On Friday, 18th of November, at the 2016 Annual Bankers’ Dinner organized by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), the Central Bank of Nigeria's Governor, Godwin Emefiele, proposed a mobile phone tax for the middle, upper and long phone call makers.
According to him, if approved, it could generate an additional N100 billion every year.
He said:
“There are several ways we can raise additional revenue to finance the increased expenditure that is needed to engender fast and sustainable growth in the economy. I think we can consider introducing a negligible telecom surcharge to be entirely borne by the initiator of a call. In order to protect the poor and vulnerable amongst us, we could structure it to only take effect after the third minute of talk.
Some analyses have indicated that the government could earn about N100 billion per annum from this alone.”
He proceeded saying that the surcharge would be borne by middle and upper-class since poor people do not make calls for more than or up to 3 minutes.
What will now happen to the
poor people who make calls at night or take advantage of packages that allows them to talk longer?
Remember, this is not the first time a government official is proposing a communication tax (An example is the 9% communication tax bill).
Luckilly, this is not going to be a reality.
H/T: The Nation
According to him, if approved, it could generate an additional N100 billion every year.
He said:
“There are several ways we can raise additional revenue to finance the increased expenditure that is needed to engender fast and sustainable growth in the economy. I think we can consider introducing a negligible telecom surcharge to be entirely borne by the initiator of a call. In order to protect the poor and vulnerable amongst us, we could structure it to only take effect after the third minute of talk.
Some analyses have indicated that the government could earn about N100 billion per annum from this alone.”
He proceeded saying that the surcharge would be borne by middle and upper-class since poor people do not make calls for more than or up to 3 minutes.
What will now happen to the
poor people who make calls at night or take advantage of packages that allows them to talk longer?
Remember, this is not the first time a government official is proposing a communication tax (An example is the 9% communication tax bill).
Luckilly, this is not going to be a reality.
H/T: The Nation