30 December 2020 – Mobile operators have been paying the so-called “luxury” tax, or as it is officially called, the mobile phone tax since 2000. It was then set up to tax high-income people who could afford to buy a mobile phone, considered a luxury in those days. The subject was also discussed at the Economic Council, when the mobile operators declared that this 2.5% fee makes the services provided to the population more expensive.

The topic was brought up to date this summer by economic agents, when experts from the Economic Council Secretariat prepared the COVID Pandemic Impact Study on Economic Sectors and the Policy Matrix, supported by the EBRD, the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund, and by the International Finance Corporation. Thus, the experts recommended to the authorities to permanently eliminate this tax, which has become a fiscal anachronism, which could lead to reduced tariffs for mobile telephony service or the launch of new mobile telephony services that would facilitate the remote use of other services and e-commerce.

The idea of the experts of the Secretariat of the Economic Council was partially taken over by the authorities. Thus, at the end of 2020, the Parliament by approving the fiscal budget policy reduces the luxury tax for mobile operators, starting with 2022, from 2.5% to 1.5%.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund, and the International Finance Corporation’s Investment Climate Reform Project funded by the Government of Sweden’s International Development Agency.