Mobile phone users are facing more taxes in the coming financial year. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) wants to increase 5 percent VAT on handset production in the upcoming budget. This may increase the price of each handset by 1000 rupees. According to the proposal to increase the supplementary duty to 20 percent, about 6 taka will be added for every 100 taka for talk time and internet usage.

Internet usage has increased in all areas from Facebook browsing to education, shopping, office work. According to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), more than 12 crore customers use the Internet out of 19 crore 22 lakh SIM card holders.

At present, customers pay more than 33 rupees tax on recharge of 100 rupees for talking on mobile. The same amount of tax has to be paid on the internet as well. According to NBR sources, in the upcoming budget, supplementary duty has been proposed to be increased by 5 percent to 20 percent in both cases. This will increase the tax by an additional 5.75 taka. As a result, a total tax of Rs 39 will be paid on Rs 100 mobile service, which will be the highest in South Asia.

Working people and daily laborers think that the cost of talking on mobile phones should be further reduced. If VAT is increased like this, it will become difficult to use mobile and internet. Students say, now that academic work is technology dependent, the cost of internet has increased. So request to the government not to increase VAT.

Mobile operators say that by increasing the supplementary duty by five percent, the revenue will be about 1.5 billion rupees. This revenue can be collected by increasing data usage instead of taxes. A customer in the country uses an average of 6 and a half GB of data per month; In India, the amount is 17 and a half GB.

Note that for the first time in the budget of 2015-16, supplementary duty was imposed on mobile phone calls to increase VAT collection. Initially 5 percent supplementary duty was imposed, but it was later reduced to 3 percent in view of the demands of various quarters. After 2 years the supplementary duty is increased from 3 to 5 percent. It was later increased to 10 percent in 2019 and 15 percent in 2020. Currently, mobile phone calls are subject to 15 percent VAT in addition to 15 percent supplementary duty. On the other hand there is 15 percent supplementary duty along with 5 percent VAT on internet usage. Along with this, consumers have to pay one percent surcharge.