There is a tax strike in Lebanon against government levies on mobile phone charges.
This is pure supply-side economics coming from Zuheir Berro, the president of Consumers Lebanon:
Berro also refuted allegations that the government needed to charge high fees to insure more income. “This is a random policy which will get us nowhere,” he said. We still have a very high capacity for subscriptions and if they lower the fees, then subscriptions will multiply,” he added.
Lebanon has a 24 percent level of subscribers, compared to over 80 percent in industrialized countries, according to Berro.
The high subscription and communication fees, according to the group, are hindering the country’s development and investments.
Meanwhile British MPs are demanding extra local taxes, in addition to the existing local property and business taxes because it is the key to ‘democracy’.
I wonder if Skype + WLANs + population density = free calls?
Skype (or any VoIP) = nearly free calls. WLANs will help push the product. Look for massive US regulation in this area in 2005. Sigh.
The income tax in Lebanon (last time i was there,) was 10%. Not bad. But here’s the wrinkle: hardly anyone actually pays them anyway. So I’m not sure what a tax strike will accomplish anyway.