The Ogun State government has appointed 12 consultants for the collection of taxes to eliminate activities of touts and illegal collectors.
It is part of the process of harmonising the various taxes payable in the state, the government says.
At the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the State government and the tax consultants, the State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mr Bimbo Ashiru, said the decision is also targeted at increasing the Internally Generated Revenue for more development.
With this development, the State government is shifting focus from revenue and receipt from the Federation Account to finance the 2017 budget in the state, the Commissioner stated.
According to him, the implementation was necessary to harmonise taxes usually paid by the owners and operators of trucks involved in haulage of goods in the state.
He said: “When we came in, we just found out that different people are just collecting different taxes and putting spikes on the roads, and decided that this is ridiculous. This is not fashionable anymore. We decided that the only thing we can do is to harmonise the taxes.
“There are so many corporate organisations in the state, this is the industrial hub of the country today. We have over 400 factories and so many are still coming up. The only thing we can do is to have Corporate Haulage Team and give them revenue stickers and compile the list of all the trucks that we have in the state. For example, we have Corporate organisations that have as much as 1,000 trucks.
“So, they are going to be the ones (tax consultants) to get the tax, they are corporate collectors. We are looking at almost one billion Naira and they are all segregated and all we are doing is being backed by Law, it was passed in the State House Assembly.”
The Chairman of Ogun State Internal Revenue Service (OGIRS), Mr Adekunle Adeosun, told reporters that the harmonisation of taxes in haulage sub-sector and the appointment of tax consultants by the government would open several windows of taxation-based revenue for the State government.
He pointed out that although tax would be collected by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, consultants would also pay Personal Income Tax (PIT) and Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) as soon as they start operation.
“We are very sure that the tax scheme is going to be successful. On their own part (Ministry of Commerce and Industry), theirs will be haulage tax, but the tax consultants will be paying us (Ogun State Internal Revenue Service) soon, your Personal Income Tax and PAYE for your workers since the scheme will create wealth and employment,” he stated.
Earlier, the Managing Director, Daaz Global Freight Limited, Kayode Sijuade, who spoke on behalf of the appointed consultants, noted that the struggle to harmonise haulage tax started in 2014 and was envisaged to create wealth for government and the appointed consultants and to create employment opportunities for teeming youths.
He told reporters that the selling of revenue stickers, ranging from 500 Naira to 2,000 Naira would also provide employment for would-be vendors.
The appointment of 12 haulage tax collectors was implemented by the government following legislation on the harmonisation of various taxes, especially as regards haulage of goods across the state, as jointly handled and supervised by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Internal Revenue Service, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Justice with a view to boosting revenue.