Telecoms operating in Ghana seem to be under pressure of multiple taxation like their counterparts in Nigeria.
This stemmed from the recent alarm raised by the Ghana Chamber of Commerce (GCC), who has urged the Government to take a critical look at taxation of the telecommunication sector and review the mobile sector taxes to avoid collapse of Quality of Service (QoS).
According to the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the GCC, Mr. Derek Laryea, “Government need to critically look at mobile sector specific taxes, which need to be removed if possible, to enhance efficiency such that the gains could be passed into rolling out networks in rural communities to help affordability as well”.
He told Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the Sixth Edition of the Ghana Economic Forum in Accra that “taxes were good but data from 2015 GSM and Deloit Research showed that telecom was being taxed in the same bracket as alcohol and tobacco”.
“In Ghana telecoms are taxed in the same vain as alcohol and tobacco, which are luxury goods and are “sin taxes” aimed at discouraging people from using them.
He argued that as technology evolves and situates in driving economy, electronic devices including phones are no longer luxury goods but necessities that that drive economic productivity hence the need to expunge them from the class of luxury goods and services.
According to him, telecoms sector should be incentivised through the removal of taxes as a way of government’s support so they could expand their infrastructure to places that were not covered.
Business Hilights recalls that issues bordering on multiple taxation among the telecoms sector in Nigeria had been a recurring decimal as all three tiers of government including the federal, states and local governments and in some cases community leadership all seek to tax telecoms.
Analysts say there had not been a clear government policy in Nigeria to resolve the crisis which had continued to hobble telecoms desire to deepen investments especially in areas of broadband infrastructure installations in the hinterlands.
