The cabinet on Monday endorsed a proposal for imposing one per cent surcharge on cell phone talk-time and other services to raise funds for development activities in the country’s health and education sectors. The internal resources division placed the proposal at the weekly cabinet meeting with the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, in the chair. ‘National Board of Revenue has assessed that the government could earn around Tk 140 crore a year by imposing development surcharge on services through the subscriber identity modules or removable user identity modules,’ cabinet secretary Mohammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told a press briefing.
If one mobile phone subscriber spends Tk 200 on an average a month, the government would get Tk two once the surcharge is introduced, he explained.
Replying to a question, the cabinet secretary said the new surcharge would come into effect after a gazette notification was issued in this regard.
NBR early this month sent a proposal to the finance ministry for imposing one per cent surcharge on mobile phone talk-time and other services seeking the cabinet’s approval.
The government will have to enact a law for imposing the development surcharge on usages of mobile phones since imposition of any new taxes required parliament’s approval, said NBR officials.
According to the NBR’s summary sent to the cabinet, the surcharge would be imposed on all mobile services including voice services, SMS and MMS services and internet and other services provided by the mobile phone operators.
Mobile users will have to pay the tax while mobile operators will collect it and pay to the government exchequer.
Currently, mobile users have to pay 15 per cent value-added tax for enjoying any mobile services provided by the operators.
Now, subscribers will have to pay additional one per cent for enjoying the services.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on June 29 initially expressed her intention in parliament that the fund to be generated through the move would be spent for development of the education sector.
Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, however, in an instruction to the revenue board said that the money would be spent for the development activities in the health and education sectors.
The country’s around 11 crore subscribers spend around Tk 14,000 crore annually for getting services provided by the six mobile phone operators—Grameenphone, Robi, Banglalink, Airtel, Citycell and state-owned Teletalk.
Monday’s cabinet meeting also approved in principle the draft Customs Bill–2014, updating the old law of 1969, which had been amended several times.
The customs evaluation system would be streamlined and the whole process would be computerised as stipulated in the proposed law, the cabinet secretary said, adding that the new customs law would be effective from 2016 as it would require two years to develop the infrastructure necessary for a modern taxation regime.
-With New Age input
