The Enugu State Internal Revenue Service (ESIRS), has clarified that contrary to claims on some section of the media, the state has the most tax friendly regime in Nigeria following the unification of the entire collection system.
The Chairman of ESIRS, Mr Emmanuel Ekene Nnamani, while briefing newsmen in Enugu on Monday, said the “Enugu tax claim is a falacy” and should be discarded by well-meaning individuals in the state.
Mr. Nnamani said that the state has transformed the taxing system and the informal sector is the greatest beneficiary of this innovation.
“Currently, Enugu has the most friendly tax environment especially in the informal sector. One of the thing Enugu is known for in tax matter is the e-ticket.
“This e-ticket is a unified tax collection or what we call the consolidated tax collection— government bringing all its agencies into one platform. This means that once someone in the informal sector pays for the e-ticket, nobody comes to disturb them about tax again.
“This innovation has made Enugu a very friendly tax environment where by you know what you’ve to pay, pay it and go about your business.
“For those in the formal sector, we’ve deployed what we called consolidated demand notice that you don’t need to pay land use act, ESWAMA and others differently. This single demand notice contains all these fees and you know exactly what you’re supposed to pay at each given time and in doing this, we’ve eliminated the actions of touts and other non state actors.
Mr. Nnamani maintained that the Governor, His Excellency, Dr Peter Mbah is very interested in making sure that businesses survive and as such has made the tax very flexible, hence, you can “pay them monthly or quarterly.
“You’ve this opportunity because the essence of economy existing is for business to exist. If the business doesn’t exist, nobody will pay you the tax. In everything we’re doing, we’re do careful because it’s the business that propells tax revenue growth.
“Thus, the claim that our tax is affecting business isn’t true because our tax is made very flexible and you can negotiate how you want to pay it. We allow this flexibility because our environment is known for business and the current administration will continue to encourage businesses to grow.”
He urged the media to always verify their facts on issue of tax before making same public.
