By Steve Agbota
The Chief Executive Officer of Wealthy Honey Nigeria Limited, Dr Kayode Farinto, has called on the Federal Government to abrogate the 7 per cent port development levy and 15 per cent import adjustment tax placed on used vehicles to mitigate the hardship of Nigerians.
Speaking with Daily Sun, Farinto who is also former Acting National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) said that if government really wants to reduce the suffering of people, these taxes need to be abolished because they are not adding value to the nation’s economy.
He urged the economic committee set up by the President Bola Tinubu to look into the issues of double taxation as it affects Nigerians.
“I have written about six pages proposal to this committee. I have also recommended in line with the fact that government is talking about mitigants. The only way you can mitigate some of these hardships is to reduce the suffering of Nigerians. How can you do that? I have proposed that they should abrogate the 7 per cent port levy.
“I have proposed that the way we compute our VAT is wrong. It is too outrageous and it is inimical to trade. VAT is Value Added Tax and it is a consumption tax. And what is VAT; you bought this red Polo at five dollars. Then, my VAT should be based at those five dollars. But in a situation you are calculating the VAT, you now calculate it on Free on Board (FoB), you add it to duty, you add it to ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) and another thing and you now multiply by 7.5 per cent, it is a double taxation.
“These are the things I have proposed to that committee. Double taxation should be look into. These are also mitigants to ameliorate the suffering of the masses. And one of the other things I also proposed is the fact that we are not a producing nation. Let us look at the fact that government is talking about 12 years on used vehicles, let us see how we can increase it to 15 years acceptable into our economy and also abrogate the 15 per cent import adjustment tax placed on used vehicles,” he added.
He said the 15 per cent import adjustment tax placed on used vehicles is not adding value to the nation’s economy, saying instead, it is making the cost of vehicles particularly used vehicles, which is third hand vehicles to be too exorbitant in Nigeria.
“A 2019 SUV now is not reachable for any Nigerian except you are an elite. For example, Highlander that used to be N5 million is now N14 million. How many Nigerians can afford it? And it is not anything because of the duty. Because in the Customs system, it is only 12 years vehicle that is acceptable.
“So you are bringing in 2014 vehicles. These are the things I proposed as mitigants to assist the Federal Government. We put up a lot of recommendation on this and I also proposed if I’m generating N200 million into government coffers on a yearly basis, I’m entitled to 1 per cent whatever I generate,” he explained.