The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday, passed the bill for an Act to establish the communication service tax.
The bill which was sponsored by Borno state senator, Senator Ali Ndume, was introduced inorder to replace the 2.2 per cent increase in the Value Added Tax (VAT), which was being planned by the Federal Government.
Ndume said that the increasing VAT will have devastating effect on the price and services.
The senator added that the communication service tax will charge nine per cent on calls and data.
He said it will ensure the distribution of wealth in such a way that it won’t affect the ordinary people.
The bill read in part “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.
“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.
“The tax shall be levied on such electronic communication services like voice calls, SMS, MMS, data usage – both from telecommunication service providers and internet service – as well as pay per view TV stations.
“The tax shall be paid together with the electronic communication service charge payable to the service provider by the consumer of the service.
