On Monday, the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) urged the government to withdraw taxes imposed on voice calls.
A delegation of representatives from cellular service provider companies visited the chamber premises, they expressed concerns over the 75 paisa tax levy on voice calls that exceed the five-minute duration in budget 2021-22.
This will increase the cost of a five-minute call from Rs1.9 to Rs2.7 along with increasing the financial burden on consumers besides affecting the business of telcos, they said. The representatives urged the government to withdraw this tax to spare telcos and consumers from increasing the cost of calls.
Delegation members said that the tax was imposed without consulting stakeholders, adding, the proposed tax is not implementable as the charging structure is not linear and is based on bundle offers to facilitate prepaid users who account for 98pc of overall cellular subscribers in Pakistan.
