Enugu state Internal Revenue Service (ESIRS) has extended hands of fellowship to the Enugu business community to be part of development of the state and for the benefits of residents.
Chairman Enugu state Internal Revenue Service, Emmanuel Nnamani, who took the sensitization of the Enugu state tax reform to the business community at the Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture Headquarters, on Thursday, said that no state can develop without the input of the organized private sector in all sectors of the economy as well as taxation.
Nnamani said that in their renewed interest in taxation, they want to assure that government revenue gets into the government account first, adding that “what has looked as magic to some people who ask where we get the money we use to do our projects is because the tax paid by people are now getting into the government account.”
The chairman also reminded the business community that the Internal Revenue Service only expanded the scope of their tax collection in accordance with the law and ensured that those who are supposed to pay tax are made to pay while those that should not pay are not taxed.
“All the taxes we are collecting is in accordance with the law. We haven’t introduced any new tax. We are also going to do a lot to ensure that the taxes they pay, especially in the informal sector, is reduced through consolidation. Even in the formal sector, we are going to consolidate their payment to ensure that they pay once and go about their normal businesses,” Nnamani said.
According to Nnamani, “what we are trying to do is to create that awareness between the service, Internal Revenue Service, and the government as a whole and in the business community, explaining to them the government effort in creating ease of doing business, to all of them, as well as their obligation as it concerns payment of the taxes, method of payment and how we can make that payment very easy for them.”
Explaining what they do with the money realised through tax, Nnamani said: “As for people who have what we call trust deficit, what is government going to do with the money collected, I can tell you that even the blind in Enugu, they can see that the work is ongoing with smart schools going on in every political ward. In the state type2 hospital and 10 kilometer road in every ward is visible even the revamping of most of our dead or abandoned infrastructure.
” The International Conference Center is up. Presidential Hotel will be up very soon. The oil people are declaring interest in it. Niger Gas is coming up So the government is doing a lot creating a new Enugu where all of us envision a city that is beyond our comprehension.”
He however, pointed out that in tax payment, nobody willingly wants to pay tax, “because tax is coming from ones income but they appreciate that they’re supposed to pay their tax.”
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