The federal government is planning to generate over N20billion from communication service tax monthly. The bill seeking to introduce the tax is before the National Assembly.
The Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, who made this known on Wednesday, August 17, at the private sector dialogue session on the proposed Communication Services Tax, CST, bill organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, in Lagos, stated that the government intended to leverage on the proposed tax to fund it’s budget deficits
He said that he would consult extensively on the issue of the CST bill and advise the federal government appropriately.
Shittu said: “We all know that the introduction of new taxes without harmonising existing ones will put pressure on the Nigerian tax system, making it unattractive to investors.This may also be counter productive in the long run for our target broadband penetration.
“My focus on any tax regime will be to align any process that will stimulate the economy and also ensure that tax system is sufficient by widening the tax net and creating an effective framework for tax compliance to protect the poor and vulnerable in the society,” he said.
The President of Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, Mr Olusola Teniola, who also spoke, expressed his concern over the proposed bill seeking tax providers of electronic communication services in Nigeria
Teniola said that the proposed bill to establish a 9% communication service tax to be paid by user of an electronic communication service (i.e., SMS, voice calls, MMS, data usage etc.) would not promote telecommunication development in the country.
The ATCON president said that the tax, if introduced, would increase prices for consumers and be counter-productive to the longer term national digitisation objectives of the federal government.
The president of LCCI, Mrs Nike Akande, in her remarks, said Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector was strategic to sustainable growth and development.
