Mobile phones can no longer be treated as luxury goods

Mobile phones could no longer be treated as luxury goods, nor considered comparable to high-value imported items such as luxury vehicles, the Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue chairman Syed Naveed Qamar said on Tuesday. Qamar passed these remarks in the committee’s 21st meeting at the Parliament House, Islamabad. The lawmaker expressed deep concern over what he described as the “unreasonably high” taxes imposed on mobile phones, as per an official release from the National Assembly. “Instead, they [mobile phones] have become an essential tool for daily life, communication, education, financial transactions, and access to public services for the average citizen.” Qamar stressed that excessive taxation on such “a basic item disproportionately burdens the common man, especially in the context of rising inflation and the financial hardships faced by many households”.