The adverse effects of discriminatory taxes

Despite the current severe economic crisis and the urgent need to trigger private investment in the ICT sector, a number of countries apply taxes to telecommunications goods and services at higher levels than for other goods and services. These burdensome and discriminatory taxes deter the adoption and use of broadband, mobile and other advanced ICT sector tools that are major drivers of development and growth in the information-based, but currently crisis-shaken, economies of the 21st century.