ISLAMABAD: A three member bench of the Supreme Court ordered the federal and provincial governments and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Tuesday to submit within a week a written response over the high taxes mobile operators charge customers.
The order follows a suo moto notice the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) took over the exorbitant tax rates mobile phone customers have to face.
Attorney General Asthar Ausaf informed the court during the hearing that mobile companies levied a 19.5 percent sales tax, a 12.5 percent withholding tax and 10 percent service charges.
The CJP claimed that charging a withholding tax was unfair considering that many do not pay any taxes.
The court also asked the finance minister to clarify under which law all these taxes are applied.
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