Ireland Considers a Tax on Text Messages

The Irish government has confirmed that it is considering proposals to add a one euro cent tax on text messages. The Green Party originally proposed the tax last year claiming that it would raise around €1.4 billion for the government - although that figure was later revised sharply downwards to €146 million.

The telecoms regulator calculates that on average, some 25 million text messages are sent daily - which even if unaffected by the tax would only bring in around €90 million in taxes.

Minister for Health Mary Harney said that the tax on texts was among a range of options being considered in the forthcoming budget. "There are a lot of reliefs that have to be examined, there's excise taxes, we've heard reference to text taxes, we've got to look at all these things," Ms Harney told the Irish Times.

In a statement, the industry trade body, the Irish Cellular Industry Association questioned why text messages were being singled out for a special tax levy.

"There is no logical reason why an additional tax should be imposed on text messages as opposed to any other product like cups of tea or coffee," the association, which represents phone companies Vodafone, O2, 3 and Meteor said in a statement. "The reality is that consumers already pay 21.5 per cent vat on all phone calls and text messages", it added.

There were also doubts as to how the tax would be raised as most tariffs include bundles of text messages.

Figures from the Mobile World show that the country ended last September with just under 5.2 million active phone accounts - representing a population penetration level of 124%.

On the web: Irish Times - Irish Cellular Industry Association - Mobile World

Posted to the site on 8th March 2009