Parliamentary Committee of the Whole House has approved the motion to discontinue the use of revenue stamps.
The motion submitted by majority leader Ali Azim states the cost of imposing the law on revenue stamps is not worth the income received by the government. It states the income from revenue stamps could be received from other government services and fees, and that requiring businesses to obtain revenue stamps along with paying fees in order to request government services is an added challenge for them. Therefore, the motion requested the government to nullify the law requiring the use of revenue stamps in order to provide more leeway to businesses.
The motion also stated the government received USD 1 million from revenue stamps in the past two years, including USD 252,000 in 2020. Meanwhile, the government is expected to spend USD 35,000 for printing the revenue stamps and receive USD 239,000 in 2021.
The government has printed 13 types of revenue stamps ranging from stamps worth less than 1 USD to stamps worth USD 647. As of November 2020, the government has 460,000 revenue stamps in stock, of which most of them are USD 0.65 stamps and USD 6.47 stamps.
Revenue stamps have been in use since 1970 after the public was required to paste revenue stamps on various government-related documents.