FG Decides To Cancel 5% Tax On Data And Airtime

The Federal Government has put a hold on the excise tax that was about to be imposed on telecommunications services.

Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy made this announcement in Abuja at the inauguration of a committee that would review the policy.

In light of the impact it would have on the digital economy, Pantami claimed he personally disagreed with the strategy and counselled President Muhammadu Buhari against implementing it.

The Minister, who said that the members of the National Assembly were not consulted, also said that the success that has already been achieved in the information and communications technology sector would be jeopardized by the imposition of excise duty.

Pantami further revealed that there are more than 41 taxes that telecommunication and ICT firms are already paying and that it would be wrong to force them to pay excise duty. He also stated that the ICT sector is overtaxed on both a federal and state level.