Imposing 10pc tax on cell phone subscribers officially begins

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Communications and Information Technology Ministry said imposing 10 percent tax on cell phone users started on Wednesday.

The decision was earlier taken by the council of ministers.

Mohammad Yasin Samim, the communication ministry’s spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News the decision would be implemented from today onwards.

He said it should have started 15 days back but the telecom service companies needed to adjust their systems.

He said the companies would be fined from 20 to 50 million afghanis if they did not act in line with the decision. Samim said systems were also created to track the records and that no anomalies took place in the process.

Currently, he said, 23.4 million Afghans used cell phones, 100,000 used landlines and more than 700,000 people used 3G internet services in the country.

The aim of collecting these taxes, he said, was self-sufficiency in the economy. He said all countries imposed such taxes but Afghanistan received least return from these services.

Some cell phone users say they were not against the move but were concerned the money would be embezzled.

Noor Mohamamd, resident of Kabul, said he topped up his phone and 10 percent of his credit was cut by the network.

He agreed with the move but said now they wanted better services from the government.

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