A detested tax on mobile top-up cards that was supposed to hit the public on June 1 may now be delayed until at least March 31 of next year.
How’s that for good news?
Thein Tun Oo, a Lower House lawmaker with the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), asked parliament this week to reconsider the coming 5 percent tax on every purchase of a top-up card, and they have agreed, the Irrawaddy reported on Friday.
He argued that the cost of owning a SIM card used to be prohibitive and the price has only recently plummeted.
“It is still only a very short time that Burmese people have been able to use mobile phones widely,” he told the Irrawaddy, referring to the rollout of services from Telenor and Ooredoo late last year, which drove down prices by creating a competitive market with state-backed Myanmar Posts and Telecommunucations (MPT). “Mobile phone users were unhappy when they heard the notice from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to add the 5 percent tax on mobile phone top-up cards starting from June 1. So, I asked for an exemption in this fiscal year.”
“I think it is OK to collect after some time, when the country’s economy develops,” he added, according to the Irrawaddy. “But now… we must consider whether we should collect the tax from the pockets of low-income people or from the rich people.”
Photo: Telenor Myanmar
