An investigation by TOLOnews into brick-making factories in the Deh Sabz district of Kabul has found that only about 27 percent of these businesses actually pay tax.
 
According to data provided by Mohammad Gul Sharafat, governor of Deh Sabz, nearly 1,000 brick factories operate in the district and only 270 pay government tax.
 
“Around 1,000 brick kilns are active here of which only 270 are registered and we collect their taxes. We sent our staff to collect taxes from other kilns but our staff were threatened,” Sharafat said.
 
Kabul MP, Allah Gul Mujahid, who claims his brother is the head of Brick Kilns Union (BKU), said there are more than 700 kilns in the area and every owner pays 250,000 AFs to the Deh Sabz governor annually.
 
“When government wanted to stop work (brick kilns) in Deh Sabz, my brother told owners of the kilns to stop paying taxes to government,” Mujahid said.
 
But according to Sharafat, if one calculates the tax, more than 180 million AFs should be paid to government coffers. However, he said only six million AFs was paid last year.
 
“If taxes are collected properly and in accordance with the tax law, I am sure that our revenue will increase a hundred times,” he said.
 
Owners of the brick kilns meanwhile said they each pay 16,000 AFs to BKU and 400,000 AFs to the land owners annually. However, these so-called land owners do not show documents to prove they own the ground, said own kiln salesman.
 
“Owners of the land, who do not have legal evidence, say they were cultivating wheat (on the land) or their ancestors were living here. But government says the land belongs to government,” said Almas, a salesman at a kiln.
 
Owners of the kilns also said they pay government 150 AFs for every truckload of bricks, but that they do not know where the money goes.