Owners of phones in Mon State are now being made to pay fresh taxes to government authorities despite having already paid for permission to own and operate telephones.
The telephones that connect to Thailand from Mon State are not illegal. The owners have received permission from local authorities by paying money to set up the telephone in their houses.
The amount each phone owner must pay for permission to own a telephone varies depending on his or her location. In some townships local authorities take 50,000 kyat per month from each phone owner.
In other townships local authorities only take 20,000 kyat, and in others they take less than that. Locals as well as migrant workers will then use these telephones to make calls to Thailand, often paying 300 kyat a minute per call, or 200 kyat a minute to receive a call.
“Normally we have pay them [local authorities] 15,000 kyat per month. But this month they [local authorities] asked for more than last month. The police said ‘you have to pay 10,000 kyat extra this month because we are carrying out training in our department’,” said a telephone owner in Thanphyuzayet Township.
Though the police said the extra money was for their training, when telephone owners asked them what sort of training, the police could not tell them. “They [the police] lied to us. It is not really for training - they just said that to get money from us,” the telephone owner added.
Not only have police come asking for money, but also soldiers and members of other government departments, such as the intelligence agency and Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC), according to a phone owner from Poun Township, Mon state. These requests have come separately from the police, where someone from a government group will come and ask for money for their department.
In the case of TPDC, they reported having to move, and required additional money to cover their transportation costs. These additional requests for money came after the telephone owners already paid the normal fee for permission to own a telephone.
“We do not get the benefits to run this kind of business, because we have to pay them [the authorities] more than we make. I think I will stop this work next month,” said a telephone owner from Ye township.
