ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, while announcing changes to the federal budget for the next fiscal year in the parliament said that no taxes will be charged on internet usage or messaging, while every call that exceeds five minutes would be charged 75 paisa.
Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, he said that visually-impaired mobile phone users would be exempted from taxes on handsets, Dawn reported.
Initially, the finance bill had proposed tax of Rs1 per call if the duration exceeds three minutes, Rs5 per GB for internet usage and 10 paisa on each SMS.
However, in a post-budget press conference, Tarin had clarified: “We are not doing it at this time.” He had said the proposals had been opposed by the prime minister and the federal cabinet so it was “off the table”.
The proposals had drawn the public’s ire, with users storming social media with criticism of the government. Many had even tagged the prime minister in their tweets saying that the “budget killed digital Pakistan initiative of the PM.”
This widespread criticism had also led to Energy Minister Hammad Azhar denying that additional duties had been imposed on telecom and data usage.
“The PM and Cabinet did not approve the FED levy on internet data usage. It will not be included in the final draft of the Finance Bill (budget) that is placed before parliament for approval,” he had said in a tweet. During his address in the NA, Tarin also announced the reduction and withdrawal of other taxes.
He said the tax on milk had been removed and 17 per cent tax on gold and silver was being reduced to one per cent and three per cent, respectively. However, he added that the 17 per cent tax would remain in place for the value addition of the metals.
