Govt. increases sales tax on mobile phones

Staff Report ISB: The federal government of Pakistan has doubled the sales tax on mobile phones. This was announced by Federal Minister for Finance, Ishaq Dar in his budget speech.

It was also announced by Finance Minister that implementation of new rates of regulatory duty (RD) imposed on import of mobile phones will be withdrawn.

The tax ranges from Rs. 300, 500 to 1000 depending upon the mobile phone. This tax is in addition to the SIM activation tax, which telecom companies are liable to pay.

Although, it will not affect much to the sales of mobile phones due to rapidly increasing demand but still it will impact on low segments of society mainly with low monthly income. However, the tax imposition on 3G/4G networks by government of Punjab entails serious dubiousness among telcos and consumers.