Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in Kwara State has described the proposed manufacturing processing levy bill by the state government as constituting multiple taxation and capable of killing businesses in the state.
Speaking during a public hearing conducted on the bill by the state House of Assembly in Ilorin at the weekend, chairman of the association, Pharmacist Bioku Rahman, called on the House not to pass it into law.
Rahman said the association opposed to the bill because it could not fathom what it was meant for, adding that there were already taxes for plenteous purposes that manufactures pay in the state.
He said that the manufacturers pay about 32 taxes, rates and levies, arguing that the bill would only constitute further burden on them and would not help growth of manufacturing sector in the state.
The MAN boss who noted that many manufacturing companies in the state had folded up, advised that what the state should do was to encourage growth of industries and not to kill them.
Also speaking, chairman of the state chambers of commerce industry mines and agriculture (KWACIMA) said his organisation opposed to the bill because it would not benefit development of the state.
He said if there were a lot of taxes against local manufacturers, their products would not be able to compete favourably with imported goods and services.
Also in his submission, a representative of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) at the occasion, Muritala Olayinka, commended plan of the government to generate more fund for the state but cautioned that, Â “before any tax bill can be passed to generate fund, there is suppose to be an enabling environment.”
The representative of the state revenue collecting agency, Kwara Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS), Mr Okandeji while saying that the bills were not meant to create new burden but to aid revenue generation of the state, said the proposals were not illegal and urged the House to pass them into laws.
Also, the government’s consumption tax bill was faulted by most of the stakeholders who called for non-passage of the bill into law, just as there was a clamour for the passage by some government’s agencies.
The arguments against and in favour of the bills were advanced by the stakeholders at the public hearing conducted on the bills by the House.
The  state ministry of Justice from where the bills emanated and other ministries and agencies which made inputs to the bills had, with the main argument that the bills were meant to drive revenue generation of the state, adopted their written submissions on them before others stakeholders submitted their views.
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