The Nigerian Senate has introduced a bill which recommends the imposition of 9% tax on all communication services including calls, messages and data subscriptions.
The bill which is titled ‘a Bill for an act to establish the communication service tax’ had its first reading during the plenary session of the Senate on Wednesday, according to PUNCH reports. The bill was proposed by Ali Ndume his a bid to provide a substitute means for the 2.2% increase in value-added tax which the federal government recently proposed, which however shall be subject to an amendment of the VAT act of 1994 by the National Assembly.
While speaking to newsmen after the session, Ndume said that placing tax levies on communications will distribute wealth equitably more than increasing VAT.
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He said;
“There shall be imposed, charged payable and collected, a monthly communication service tax to be levied on charges payable by a user of an electronic communication service other than private electronic communication services,” Guardian quoted Ndume as saying.
“The tax shall be levied on electronic communication services supplied by service providers.
“For the purpose of this clause, the supply of any form of recharges shall be considered as a charge for usage of electronic communication service.”
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