Robi vents concern over taxes levied on telecom services
The company believes that increasing the SD by 5 percent on all telecom related services is unfortunate
Mobile network operator Robi Axiata Limited has expressed concern over the two percent minimum tax on revenue remaining unchanged in the proposed budget for 2020-21 fiscal year.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Robi said that considering the mobile network operators' contributions to fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and enhancing the digital ecosystem, there was still opportunity to review this tax, and it hoped that the government would take a positive decision in this regard.
Meanwhile, according to an SRO issued by the National Board of Revenue (NBR), Robi is going to implement the new supplementary duty (SD) rate from 12 am midnight today and all preparations in this regard have been completed.
The company believes that increasing the SD by 5 percent on all telecom related services is unfortunate.
Robi further stated that even before this proposed budget, Tk53 out of every Tk100 spent by customers was going to the government exchequer in different forms of taxation.
Hence, adding the 5 percent SD on the already heavily taxed telecom sector would make things more difficult for the customers, it stated.
As a large part of the population have become reliant on digital communication during the pandemic, the new SD would have an adverse impact on this trend, the statement mentioned.
The telecom company further said that even after making a significant contribution to realising the vision of a digital Bangladesh by 2021, the proposed budget seemed to ignore the telecom sector's problems, it added.
