Ghana is seeking to amend its Communications Service Tax law
passed in 2008 to increase levies on international calls and data transmission
using internet
The Amendment Bill, which was initially thrown out of the
country's parliament by members for lack adequate consultation, is also seeking
to address revenue loss as a result of loopholes in that regulation.
Meanwhile, the legislators and telecommunication industry
players are sharply divided over the move, calling for a truncation of the
process because consumers would be hard hit.
The minority group in parliament had cautioned the
government about the move, saying it may be breaching international regulations
if it goes ahead to tax the public for receiving international calls.
The government seeks to charge six cents on every minute of
calls originating from outside Ghana.
It says it is losing close to Ghȼ45 million ($22.1 million) every month
due to irregular and fraudulent activities in the sector.
Telecom operators in the country are to allow the government
access to monitor the accruing revenues and if a company refuses to pay the tax
after the first 30 days, it will attract a penalty of 5 percent of annual gross
revenue of the last audited financial statement.
The national communication authority can withdraw the
licence of an operator who fails to pay the tax after 90 days.
Opare Ansah, a lawmaker and an IT expert speaking to a local
FM station in Accra, said telecom companies had prevailed in a High Court
ruling on inter-connectivity and therefore, passing a bill on an illegality
could be declared null and void by the Supreme Court.
