399) BERITA PILIHAN : Move by telcos to impose 6% tax on prepaid lines comes under fire
12 Sep 2011
KUALA LUMPUR: Calling it difficult to accept, the Prime Minister has
joined in the chorus of people against the move by telcos to impose 6%
service tax on prepaid mobile phone users.
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the move
comes at a time when the Government was trying to ease the burden of the
rakyat’s who are already hit by the rise in living costs.
He added the move was not approved by the Finance Ministry as the
decision to impose taxes was taken by the telcos themselves.
“I have received many reactions and feedback from the people,” he
told reporters yesterday after launching Maybank’s new corporate logo.
The move to impose the service tax on consumers is very unpopular and
difficult to accept.”
MCA Youth chief
Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said the service tax
was a huge burden to the people.He added mobile phones were an essential
item to consumers and played a major role in the daily life with most
of the prepaid users coming from the lower-income group.
It was reported that from Sept 15 onwards, prepaid users and those
purchasing starter kits would need to pay an extra 6% as telcos agreed
they would no longer absorb the service tax, which was introduced in
1998.
Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin described the decision as
“unreasonable”.
“Boss @NajibRazak, the decision to impose tax on prepaid users is
unreasonable and it would burden the rakyat. I oppose it. Please review
it,” he tweeted.
PKR vice-
president Tian Chua said the Government must
intervene immediately to help low-income earners.
He also noted that prepaid plans were unfair to users by design as
users paid for their usage up front.
Consumer groups were also up in arms over the increase, which they
have lambasted as unfair.
Consumers Association of Penang
president S.M. Mohamed Idris called on the
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to stall the move.
He added mobile phone prepaid users faced the brunt of unfair terms
and conditions imposed on them, especially when the balance in their
account was forfeited when they did not reload within the validity
period.
He suggested that a prepaid number should have lifetime validity and
be activated at the customers convenience.
Muslim Consumers Association Malaysia activist
Datuk Nadzim Johan said the increase was
unfair and ill-timed when consumers were tightening their belts over the
increasing cost of other essential goods.
“If a telco charges RM0.30 per minute with 30 seconds per block, this
means that you pay RM0.15 whether you use the phone for only 10 seconds
or 30 seconds,” he said.
“This means the telcos are already making money from the unused
seconds. Consumers have already been over-paying for years.”
Source : The Star 10/9/11
2) THE SUN 12/9/11
MCA says no to prepaid service tax
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