…Says it strangulates business
Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has expressed its displeasure at attempts by state governments to strangulate businesses through multiple taxes and duplication of taxes and levies in the country.
The employers body said it specifically took aspersion to the enactment of Kano State Revenue Administration (Amendment) Law 2017, which imposed a Consumption tax payable by Consumers of goods and services bought or rendered in any hotel, restaurant, eatry, bakery, takeaway, suya spot, shopping mall, store, event centre and other similar businesses in the state.
Reacting to the incident, the Director-General of NECA, Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo noted that: “the imposition of Consumption Tax by Kano State amounted to a duplication of Value Added Tax (VAT), which our Laws frown against, as stated by the Supreme Court in the case of Attorney General of Ogun State vs. Aberuagba and others.
“We do not agree with the imposition of such tax due to the existence of Value Added Tax (VAT) in the country. This is because VAT is a consumption tax collectible by the Federal Government (and shared among the states) in respect of sale of goods and provision of services within the Federation”. Mr. Oshinowo averred that in response, NECA had instituted an action challenging such imposition by Kano State Government.
The Director-General explained further that, “the cause of the recent development is the Taxes and Levies (Approved List for Collection) Act (Amendment) Order 2015, which several States are misinterpreting and now leveraging to enact Laws that clearly amount to and promote duplication of taxes. This trend is spreading like wide fires going by the recent actions of Kogi and Delta States, just to mention but a few. “Mr Oshinowo averred that this initiative is killing business, wealth creation and entrepreneurship. It is equally a clear disincentive to foreign direct investment.”