FIRS' Tunde Fowler makes case for communication tax

There is a probability that the Nigerian government will introduce communication tax to her citizens, as the Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler was quoted to have said there is no harm in introducing it.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 25th Nigerian Economic Summit Group conference, the FIRS boss maintained that due to how much Nigerians often talk on phone, it won’t do any harm should communication tax be imposed.

In a bid to explain why the government should impose the communication tax, Fowler said, "I will put it this way, Nigerians talk a lot on the phone; they even talk more than is required so for them to have capacity or revenue to talk that much, I don't see any harm in paying a little bit more to government.

“We compare ourselves to developing countries but Ghana introduced a 2% education tax and used it to fund their universities and that is why Nigerians are now going to university in Ghana. They didn’t look for aid, they did it by themselves.”

What you should know

The Nigerian senate is working on a bill, that if passed, will impose communication and cable television services tax on Nigerians.

The ‘Bill for an Act to establish the Communication Service Tax’ will see consumers pay a 9 percent charge when they make a call, consume data or subscribe to a cable TV platform.