Handheld devices should be in the same tax bracket as computers, which have a lower rate of import taxes in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, says telecommunications provider, Flow.
“I think that right now the handsets that come to the markets are practically a PC and sometimes I advocate when I speak to the ministers of government that we need to probably begin to treat handsets as computers and charge the same rate of duty that you would charge on a computer, which I think is just about 4 per cent of the CFC,” Flow’s country manager, Wayne Hull told a press conference last week.
“So I would humbly advocate that that is a step that I think the government should take because when I look at the stats, 80 percent of the users access the internet via a mobile device and I think it is time we made that leap,” Hull said.
I agree with this 100%. 42.5% is a ridiculous amount of duty to be paid on something so essential to modern life.
Yes I see his point but is that cost saving going to be passed on to the customers who put hear these handsets in St Vincent. Now that is the real question, or is the savings going to line the pockets of the share holders.