Bowing To Pressure: Biya Orders Suspension of Controversial Phone Tax -Urges government to review collection mechanism

 By Doh Bertrand Nua in Yaounde
Government has bowed to pressure from Cameroonians on different social media platforms and some political parties to suspend the collection of the controversial tax levied on telephones and tablets.
    The decision was taken by President Paul Biya Monday 19 October 2020. A correspondence to that effect was addressed by the Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh on the instructions of the President to the Prime Ministry.
    The letter requested the PM to suspend the law digitalizing the collection of taxes on phones and tablets, seek a more appropriate mechanism through which the said tax will be collected and forward to the presidency for approval. 
    The system was expected to shift the tax burden on buyers in cases where importers had not paid the tax of the gadgets. It had program to make it possible for mobile networks to automatically detect phone’s unique International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers once taxes on them had not been cleared.
    The Ministry oof Posts and Telecommunications and Customs officials had explained that the system will give users the option of making payment on the 33% tax in full or in installments, using their airtime.
    Government explained that the tax was introduced following drastic drop in revenue from the importation of telephones, despite an estimated 4 million telephones imported each year into the country. It estimated that informal importation and phone smuggling costs the country at least 12 billion FCFA each year and the new reform will help optimize the revenue collected on phones.