CST: ‘Telcos making government unpopular’-Assibey-Yeboah

Chairman of parliament’s finance committee, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah is accusing telecommunication companies in Ghana of making government unpopular through the Communication Service Tax (CST ).

The CST was previously set for 6percent. However, it was raised to 9percent during the presentation of the 2019 Mid-year Budget Review by the Finance Minister.

The minister, Ken Ofori-Atta said the move is to build a viable technology ecosystem in Ghana.

But Ghanaians have complained after the implementation of the new CST that they are losing talk time value.

Speaking to the media, Dr. Assibey-Yeboah accused the telcos of being disingenuous.

“Is any body suggesting when it (CST) was 6%, government was not collecting any revenues from the telcos? Somebody is just being disingenuous because it was 6 percent and now it is 9 percent…previously we didn’t state it explicitly that if you bought credits of 10 cedis 6 percent is not for you..as to why they didn’t state it I cannot explain.”

“But now somebody thinks that to make government unpopular I have to state the full extent of the CST. So now people are complaining. You were still getting 9 cedis 40 pesewas except that it was not being stated,” Dr. Assibey-Yeboah said.