TSTT Leak Confirmed: New Luxury tax on internet usage in Trinidad
All internet accounts to be taxed with $300/month.
PORT OF SPAIN: -- It was leaked today that the government is to announce heavy investment to upgrade Trinidad's international bandwidth, but is planning to introduce an internet tax to help fund the investment, and control usage.
The internet tax will be based on bandwidth and would be applied on a graduated scale according to the speed of a users internet connection. The internet luxury tax will be 300 TT/month for most users.
Tourists and retirees will be required to pay the monthly tax at a higher rate, $800 TT/month.
A senior official at TSTT, speaking on condition of anonymity, speculated that "Foreigners that do not have work in Trinidad only hang out on internet forums and visit pornographic sites, different from Trinidadians who mostly use it for furthering their education".
Prime Minister Patrick Manning, a born again Christian, has been known to be concerned about the rising levels of Internet misuse and the effect on youths.
Pastor Edwin Darkin, a friend of the Mannings, commented "If the Prime Minister wishes this, so be it. The children are looking at all these things on the Internet - gangster rapping, gay lifestyles. I have seen these web sites and they are not nice."
In addition to the bandwidth tax, an extra usage tax of 50 TT will be levied on those using Bittorrents and surfing internet forums.
The TSTT source said that executives are overjoyed at the prospect of government investment, adding that now they would be able to buy a new fleet of vans for their technicians, which is important if they wish to improve internet speeds and quality.
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