Communication tax: Subscribers, business leaders ready for showdown

Forum 7 years ago

Communication tax: Subscribers, business leaders ready for showdown

The proposed communication tax is one tax too many, and may trigger widespread reactions if the bill is eventually passed into law, writes OZIOMA UBABUKOH

Although the ‘controversial’ Communication Service Tax bill has passed the first reading at the House of Representatives, The PUNCH can reliably state that the major telecommunications companies in the country are all against it, and have vowed to do all they could to resist it.

For the telecoms firms and subscribers, it is seen as a wrong approach to generating revenue amid a sinking economy and an impoverished people.

“We are going to mobilise the Nigeria Labour Congress, the civil society organisations and the entire nation against it.

“We shall bring the government of Nigeria to a standstill should the lawmakers at the National Assembly continue with the process of passing that bill into law.

“In fact, we must not even allow a second reading of the bill, or allow them to hold a public hearing, because most times when you allow them to hold a public hearing, they do so in secrecy just to ensure that people do not oppose their (lawmakers’) decision,” the President, National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers, Mr. Adeolu Ogunbanjo, told our correspondent.

Upon passage and assent, the CST bill, which is currently in the Senate, will compel telecommunications service subscribers, including satellite television providers like DSTV, to pay additional tax on services rendered by their providers.

The others include GoTV, Startimes, CONSAT and other telecoms operators. Services such as voice calls, SMS, MMS, data and pay TV will all have an additional nine per cent tax imposed on the services; meaning that the subscribers will pay the usual cost of service, plus nine per cent of that cost.

“It is one tax too many. Already, there are 26 different taxes being paid by Nigerians. Again, all the various components of telecoms are being taxed; for instance, the Subscriber Identification Module card, handsets, among others, take about five per cent tax already,” Ogunbanjo said.