BIOLA AZEEZ writes on the tax compliance drive by the Kwara Internal Revenue Service and the subsequent uproar among affected Igbo traders in the state capital, Ilorin.
SOME notable streets, roads and markets in Ilorin are predominantly inhabited by people from both the South-East and South-South states of the country for residential and commercial purposes. Among such places are Ita Amodu, Ojatuntun, Surulere, Agaka, Ibrahim Taiwo, Ita Amo, Murtala Mohammed road, as well as Sabo Oke, Osere, Stadium Road and Oke Andi areas of the metropolis.
It is not an overstatement to say that Igbos own most of the business outlets along the length and breadth of the Ibrahim Taiwo Road, like other areas in Ilorin mentioned earlier. They deal in items such as travelling bags, cosmetics, artificial hair, electronics and electrical products and accessories, carpets and rugs, shoes, bags, fashion boutiques, telecommunications, building materials, among others.
The presence of Igbo people in Ilorin metropolis and its suburbs predates the creation of the state in 1967. Thus, many of the indigenes and the non-indigenes have cohabited harmoniously and even had intermarriages. That says a little about the level of the relationship.
However, this relationship and the business environment was threatened on Friday, March 1, 2024 when the mobile court working with the state’s Kwara Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) locked up business complexes of some Igbo traders on the allegation of non-payment of tax.
To express their displeasure over what they saw as intimidation, Igbo traders, locked up their shops in solidarity with others affected by the activities of the revenue agency and the mobile court.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that the development left many customers of Igbo businessmen stranded in locations such as Oko Erin, Ibrahim Taiwo Road and General Hospital area, among others.
“They just came to my plaza, spread their canopy, chair and table. They did not talk with anybody. I was inside. They didn’t invite anyone. They didn’t ask for theowner of the complex. After about 30 minutes, they folded their things and left. Next thing after that, they came with police, asked staff and customers to vacate the place. I could not even give my dog food this morning. It’s inside. They locked both inside and outside.
“They say it’s about tax. For about 18 years, I’ve been paying tax. They wrote me before now. I took my documents to them. They didn’t say anything but they just came this morning to lock up the place”, managing director of TopBiz shopping plaza, Oko Erin, Ilorin, Agunwa Theophilus said.
Another affected trader, Donald Chukwuemeka, said that, “I’m not owing because what they’re billing me is more than what I’m doing. The money they say I should pay as tax I can’t get it to pay.
“I don’t know why they should come and start locking up. We pay through our association and I have receipts. I’m up-to-date in payment. Ninety percent of us fall under informal sector of the economy. They know those who are under formal sector. They collect tax directly and individually from them.”
The businessmen, who appealed to Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to assist with tax waiver or tax holiday, considering the current economic hardship in the country, said that many of their members stock their shops with goods received on credit.
Coordinator of the 22 zonal chairmen of Igbo traders associations in Kwara, who is also the chairman, building materials association, Surulere zone, Kwara State, Chief Aloysius Nwora, said that the tax office wanted to start collection of tax from individual members against existing agreement with the agency to get the tax collectively.
Nwora, who suggested a roundtable discussion among representatives of the revenue agency, the state government and the leadership of the Igbo traders association for amicable solution, said there would not be business growth and development in any unfriendly environment.
“For years, we’ve had this arrangement with the state tax office to be collecting our taxes collectively and submit to them. In that way, we as a union have been able to identify our members who do not even have shops, or those who are three or four in a shop, and submit to the tax office.
“Once we submit that money, the tax office would issue receipts based on individual names we submit to them. The taxes are in categories of N7,000, N14,000, N25,000, N45,000 like that annually.
“This continued until last year when our members started to receive letters individually and demanding for another tax ranging from N700,000, N1.5 million and so on. Most of the people written to had already paid with their receipts from tax office. Some of us have tax clearance certificate in three years interval.
“When they told staff of the tax office that they had paid, the staff told them to subtract what they’ve paid before from the new bill they gave us, thereby calculating tax of previous 10 years of outrageous sums like N10 million, N15 million and so on.
“We went with our lawyers to explain to them that we’re only owing 2023 tax which is supposed to be paid November last year based on our agreement with them, and which we’re already gathering because we closed our meeting November and opened February this year.
“Unfortunately, they wrote our members to pay N9.7 million within three days, threatening that failure to do so, they’ll bring mobile court, judge and prosecute member in their shop. Most of the owners of the affected shops are not even around. They refused to listen to plea by shop assistants, locked up the shops. That’s why all members locked all their shops in solidarity to say we’re not okay with the verdict passed by the court.
“There is a special court for tax and not mobile court. We even have cases there,” he said.
Responding to the allegations, the Corporate Affairs Department of the KWIRS, on behalf of the executive chairman, Shade Omoniyi, said the revenue agency conducted the mobile court on Friday to prosecute recalcitrant tax defaulters in the state to ensure compliance.
The KWIRS also described its efforts at ensuring tax compliance in the state as totally devoid of any ethnic motive and described those peddling such claims as mischief makers who do not mean well for the government of Kwara State under the leadership of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.
“In its bid to ensure compliance, KWIRS on Friday conducted mobile court within some business premises in Ilorin to prosecute some recalcitrant high net-worth tax defaulters, who were hiding under the umbrella of associations to pay lower taxes than what is due, thereby shortchanging the government.
“But no sooner had the exercise been concluded than a group that described itself as Kwara Igbo Traders Association (KWITA) stormed the media space to make the false claim that the exercise was targeted at Igbo traders.
“Discreet investigations, however, showed that nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, the culprits with tax liabilities running into millions are businesses owned by residents of different ethnic backgrounds in the state.
Said a source at KW-IRS: “The false and emotional outbursts by a so-called Kwara Igbo Traders Association, to the effect that some ethnicity was targeted and singled out for harassment, is not only unfounded but ridiculous. No one will hide under the umbrella of an association to shortchange the government or to blackmail it. Those who were found guilty on Friday had been given enough warnings and prevailed upon to discharge their civic duties to no avail. To now resort to ethnic sentiments is wrong- headed.”
A statement by the Legal Unit of the Service faulted the claim of ethnic motive in the discharge of the statutory duties of KWIRS, reiterating that tax assessment and payment by groups or associations is not acceptable by law as already published by the Service on all its social media platforms on May 9, 2023.
The unit said: “Following several attempts which later proved abortive to recover these outstanding liabilities, a letter of notice of intention to prosecute was served on these taxpayers, wherein they were given a three-day ultimatum to defray their tax liabilities or a mobile revenue court would be constituted within their business premises. Notwithstanding this warning, these taxpayers still failed to liquidate their tax liability or show any sign of commitment; hence a mobile court was constituted by the Service at taxpayers’ premises as promised.”
The service enjoined the taxpayers to be law-abiding by paying their taxes as and when due and also noted that its activities are not targeted at any tribe nor is it to disrupt business activities within the state.
Also, a pro-democracy group, Kwara Must Change, has cautioned Igbo traders in Ilorin, against weaponising ethnicity in their dispute. with state authorities over enforcement of tax laws. In a statement by the convener, Abdulrazaq Hamzat, the group said that tax laws in Kwara State are enforced on all businesses in the state, not on the basis of tribe, sex or religion, but on the basis of business and volume of transactions.
According to Hamzat, “All businesses in the state are benefiting from infrastructure and enabling environment provided by the state and it is improper to attempt to scandalise the state government through malacious ethnic protest, in an attempt to evade tax or shortchange government.”
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