By Joshua Egbodo
House of Representatives has moved against illegal taxes and tenement rates collecting firms in Abuja, directing the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Alhaji Muhammad Musa Bello, to stop the operations of all such collectors in the city.
The House, in a resolution yesterday, also called residents to stop, forthwith, payment of taxes and tenement rates to such unauthorised persons, even as it directed its Committee on the FCT to investigate the rationale behind the existence of the illegal tax collectors in the city, and to report its findings back within two weeks.
The committee is also expected to beam its searchlight on why the FCT Internal Revenue Service Board, for which establishment law had been passed by the National Assembly, was yet to be in place over the years.
Chairman of the Committee on Rules and Business of the House, Hon. Emmanuel Orke-Jev, had in a motion brought under Matters of Urgent Public Importance, drawn the attention of members to the proliferation of illegal taxes and tenement rates collectors who move around extorting monies from residents of the city, “using forged documents.”
The lawmaker argued that by law, no one other than the appropriate tax collection agencies were authorised to do so on behalf government, pointing out that the proliferation of such illegal collectors became manifest after the House through a resolution, directed the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to stop collecting taxes for the FCT.
“This is posing serious challenges to the FCT revenue base,” Orke-Jev said.
Members took turns to contribute, with majority calling for urgent action towards nipping the development.
In his submissions, Chairman of the Committee on Capital Market and Institutions, Hon. Tajudeen Yusuf, said in most cases, the rates were applied differentially as “nobody knows how they are arrived at,” adding that the people involved were just suing any means to extort innocent residents.
Also speaking, Hon. Shehu Babale warned that “if the ugly development is not arrested, there is the likelihood of it to escalate,” stressing that “people are lamenting, and businesses are closing because they cannot bear the costs.”
“We have to create legitimate ways of taxing the people,” he said.
