Stakeholders in the informal sector in Ekiti State have condemned what is described as the imposition of multiple taxes by the state government.
They argued that the increasing level of taxes was having negative effects on their businesses with low patronage and the citizens across the 16 local government areas of the state.
The taxpayers, under the auspices of the ‘Tax for Service Group’, made this known at a media engagement on improving governance through tax for service in Ekiti State ‘, which was organised by the New Initiative for Social Development (NISD) in collaboration with the Nigerian Situation Room.
Concerned by the lack of proper utilisation of taxes by the government, NISD, in partnership with UK International Development, organised a 2-day engagement with stakeholders in the informal sector to sensitise them about the need to engage the government and monitor the utilisation of taxes.
Speaking, the group’s chairman, Professor Christopher Oluwadare, vowed to monitor government activities and also collaborate to identify and stop tax leakages.
Oluwadare, who was represented by the Tax for Service Group Secretary, Akin Abimbola, said that stakeholders in the informal sector are facing the challenges of double taxation and multiple taxation.
According to him, “I want to tell you that all of the informal sector pays direct tax, not only direct tax; we are paying withholding taxes; my section (hoteliers) is paying about three different taxes and about 12 other charges and levies to the government. Aside from that, we pay directors’ tax and consumption tax.
“This is part of the grey area in which we will sit with the government to ensure that if the taxpayers are given a conducive environment and there is no provision for double or multiple taxations, they will definitely be eager to pay, and they will definitely be able to pay if they can see what the government is doing with it.
“If a hotel pays so much as tax and there are no good roads to the hotel, no light, and no infrastructure, that can make the development of the business possible, which is the reason why we are coming up.
“The informal sector pays taxes, charges, and levies. As a matter of fact, most of the laws that are coming out of the Ekiti State House of Assembly are not the target of the formal sector; they are actually targeting the informal sector to extract and get funds as their means of IGR.
If we get all these appeals together, we will definitely know that the higher percentage of revenues to the government purse is coming from the informal sector. We need and deserve a special waiver.
“We will be out there not just to query them but to educate members on the reasons why tax needs to be paid. From the stakeholders meeting, before we arrived at the formulation of this group, we were able to educate them that tax payment is statutory.
“This group will also stand to condemn and to stand against double taxations, multiple taxations, and uncertainty in the payments of tax.”
A resource person at the parley and a Deputy Director of Commercial and Corporate Law at the State Ministry of Justice, Adedayo Arogundade, called for the establishment of a state tax appeal tribunal where taxpayers can lodge complaints and get justice, noting that, just like the government, taxpayers also need to be protected.
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