RMAFC boss advocates ‘talk tax’ for
telecom subscribers, others
SEPTEMBER 11, 2012 BY AGENCY REPORTER

The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and
Fiscal Commission has advocated the
introduction of communication service tax
for mobile phone users, to boost revenue
generation in Nigeria.
The Chairman of RMAFC, Mr. Elias Mbam,
made the suggestion on Tuesday in Asaba
at a zonal advocacy workshop on economic
diversification, organised by the commission
to enhance revenue generation, the News
Agency of Nigeria reports.
Mbam said the proposed communication tax
would make it mandatory for mobile phone
users, who spent more than N100 on calls
daily to pay tax.
“Presently, there are over 100 million
telecommunications subscribers in Nigeria.
There should be a law that provides that
anybody who uses above N100 recharge
card a day should be taxed for a percentage
of the extra value used.
“In other words, once you consume over
N100 in phone calls, for that extra-money,
you must pay a particular percentage of
tax.”
“I can assure you that if we collect that, even
if it is one per cent, the nation will get over
N1 billion a day.”
Mbam said such revenue could be used to
provide “free education at all levels in the
country.”
“The spectrum (communication) is our
national wealth and anyone who is enjoying
our national wealth should be made to pay
for it,” he said.
The chairman also advocated the payment
of “merriment tax” for wealthy Nigerians.
“If you have a ceremony that establishes
your level of income, clearly those
ceremonies should be taxed. For instance, if
somebody is taking a chieftaincy title and
takes a live TV coverage for the whole day
(or several hours), the ceremony should be
taxed.
“The money being used for such occasions
must have been acquired for certain
privileges the celebrant has and he should
pay tax for that,” he said.
NAN reports that the zonal workshop on
economic diversification is the third in the
series organised by the commission.
The aim of the workshop is to spur states
and local governments to rely less on
monthly revenue allocation from the sale of
crude oil and gas.

Source; Punchng.

Sounds good to me.

Very soon you guys will propose a tax on talking to God through prayers.

tpia@:
Sounds good to me.

seriously!!! Like u are kidding right!

4reigningqueen:
seriously!!! Like u are kidding right!

Wht is kidding abt his/her coment? I like the tax idea bt I thnk t suld be modified such that each state will b collecting the phone tax of their state and nt the federal colectng it.

^^ hmm... seems you are one of them.only a beneficiary will support this. The ones they've been collecting where is the result? No be to borrow borrow from other countries including CHINA dey end am?

These people (our leaders and their relations) are wicked.

4reigningqueen: ^^ hmm... seems you are one of them.only a beneficiary will support this. The ones they've been collecting where is the result? No be to borrow borrow from other countries including CHINA dey end am?

forget this crap you're talking here. The fact is, if we want genuine development then we should be ready to pay for it. In Nigeria, we hadly pay taxes believing that inadequate oil revenue will solve our problems. Though some of our leaders are not helping matters but multiple sources of revenue generation and diversification of the economy from being an import dependent country to a productive one will help in creating employment and spur more economic growth.

Don't we already pay tax on every call we make? MTN, Glo, Airtel, etc pay VAT at 5% on all their sales ie our telephone calls and data use, they also pay corporation tax on their profits, profits once again from our calls.

So is this organisation proposing another tax for the telecos to pay?

@warrior01
the one they have been collecting let them use it prudently, after that, we can now be talking about giving them more.

Shikena!