Lahore High Court suspended new tax on overseas calls

In what appeared to be good news for overseas Pakistanis, the Lahore High Court (LHC) suspended the federal government’s notice of a new tax on incoming international calls.

The petitioner who raised this issue in the LHC had claimed that the federal government had unconstitutionally and without notifying any competent commission, levied this tax through an executive order.

Justice Aijazul Hasan ordered for stopping implementation on this notification and issued notices to the federal government and all concerned authorities for written statements to be presented on November 5.

The government’s decision to impose a hefty tax on incoming telephone calls from overseas had caused a heated debate in the upper house of parliament with senators belonging to both sides of the aisle categorically rejecting the tax as a burden on overseas Pakistanis.

It is vital to mention here that the Competition Commission of Pakistan opposed the rise in taxes but the government did not support it.

The increase has encouraged formation of cartels of telecom companies at international level, and also led to paving way of illegal gateway exchange in Pakistan.

According to the reports, the cartel of international telecom operators is possibly going to establish their monopoly.

In addition, the consumers are left with limited choice and are forced to call to Pakistan paying an extra amount. The rise in tax on incoming calls has affected 8 million Pakistanis

The telecom operators were receiving different charges for phone calls coming from abroad, which maintained an environment of competition among them. But the tax imposed on these calls has amplified the government revenues but it discourages the trend of competition.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=34478

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Oct 26 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.