Daily Independent Online.
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Friday, June 11, 2004.
Lagos council workers intensify revenue drive
By Bamidele Osha,
Reporter
Local Government tax workers have resorted to
‘strict methods’ in carrying out their duties in reaction to
Federal Government ‘s stoppage of subvention to the third tier of
government.
Tax collectors in Lagos metropolis, who ordinarily
are nonchalant about collecting levies such as business permit, tenement rates,
advertisement and electronic appliances rates are seen pursuing their appointed
duties with more zest and sometimes resorting to harsh methods when dealing
with taxpayers these days.
Many people now complain of molestations and other
untoward methods leading sometimes to conflicts between them and the council
officials.
A petty trader at the Itire/Ikate area complained
bitterly about the highhandedness of the council workers recently saying
something needed to be done to curb their excesses. “Those tax collectors
came to my shop and demanded some levies which I considered very strange
because I’d not been charged such levies before. They demanded payment
for lock-up shop, tenement and electrical appliances rate. This charges I do
not consider strange as I’d paid them before. But they started looking at
electrical points and said they were going to levy me per point. I was
infuriated at this point and told them that it was not their duty to charge
electrical points but NEPA’s. They tried to bamboozle me but beat a
retreat when I stood my ground,” she said.
When Daily Independent spoke with some Itire/Ikate
and Surulere LG field hands, they gave varying opinions about the matter.
One of the council workers at Itire/Ikate local
government confronted with the allegation said all the levies they demanded
were genuine. “Those levies, such as advertisement, electronic, tenement
etc. are legitimate and statutory.
Taxpayers have the erroneous notion that because they
are not regularly charged or collected they are illegitimate. It is because we
are considerate…we know the economy is in a mess and do not want to
inflict the people with further hardship. That is the reason it appears we have
abstained from performing our duties.”
Another one at Surulere was however non-committal
saying, “we are taxpayers also and patronise the same markets as other
Nigerians do. But we have it as a duty to collect statutory levies.
With the recent stoppage of local government
subvention, we are negatively affected as we cannot receive our salaries as and
when due. Developmental projects and financial cushions from which we benefit
have all stopped. Hence we carry out our duty with a fair amount of force.
Without fear or favour,” he said.
The federal government recently stopped the
allocations to Lagos and some other states across the country for conducting
elections into newly created councils, allegedly in disregard to earlier
warnings.
The state has taken the federal counterpart to court over
the matter.
