Exorbitant, irrational taxes on smartphones are serving no one's cause.

THE exorbitant taxes imposed by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on smartphones have made it impossible for a common man to buy them anymore. Duties on the latest models of mobile phones are higher than even their actual prices, which has no justification at all.

The authorities apparently are missing the basic flaw in their approach to the matter; a smartphone in today's world is an item of everyday need. It is not a luxury item.

The imposition of duty and the rate at which it is being applied suggest the authorities are treating smartphones under the category of luxury items.

The imposition of such absurdly high duties is not only barring the locals from acquiring smartphones having the latest features based on fast and easy-to-use technology, but is also irritating the visitors from abroad who keep the usage of their smartphones limited to WhatsApp and such other things because using their phones as 'phones' means paying taxes when they do not plan to be here...