5 reasons Nigerians should reject the proposed tax on mobile services

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The Nigerian government recently proposed a bill to place a 10 percent tax on phone calls, SMS and internet data packages.

The bill was submitted to the National Assembly and is expected to be passed into law.
As expected, this proposition has been criticised by some human rights bodies but Nigerians aren’t yet paying enough attention to it and what it might mean for mobile phone users.

Here are some of the reasons every Nigerian should be kicking against the proposed tax.

1. According to NCC statistics, Nigeria now has about 146 million active mobile phone lines as at July 2016. A large majority of Nigerians are subscribed to at least two network service providers simultaneously.

A 10 percent tax on virtually all the services offered by telecoms company will amount to a huge income for the Nigerian government. According to the minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, the projected earnings from this taxation effort is about N20 billion every month.

2. The communication ministry has said the earnings from the tax will generate revenue for the Nigerian government and will reduce heavy reliance on oil revenue. That’s laudable, but why do Nigerians have to pay for the government’s mistakes? This is a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul and it is yet another insensitive move by the federal government.

3. The communication minister justified the new tax proposal by saying that there are deficiencies in the telecommunications sector and the lack of proper infrastructure is the reason for poor quality. How are the masses responsible for that situation? Why do we have to pay to fix such holes?

Isn’t 10 percent too much to impose on the common people who are already struggling to keep up with the high costs of phone call and internet data?

4. Nigeria is officially in a recession and as much as we deny it, poverty is sweeping across the nation. One would expect the government to be adopting new ways of alleviating poverty and comforting citizens in the face of this recession but instead, FG is throwing new taxes at citizens as if we didn’t have enough to moan about already.

5. Communication experts have projected a decline in consumer spending if this proposed tax becomes reality. President of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, Engr Gbenga Adebayo has said if passed into law, the tax will reduce subscribers’ level of data consumption and affect the contribution of the sector to the the country’s GDP.

Source: http://latestnigerianews.com.ng/5-reasons-nigerians-should-reject-the-proposed-tax-on-mobile-services/