By Uzo Ugwunze
Speaker, Anambra State House of Assembly, Mr Somtochukwu Udeze has expressed optimism that internally generated revenue would continue to increase as the present administration sustains the massive infrastructural development going on across the state.
He however called on eligible citizens to regularly pay their taxes as a civic responsibility and contribution towards the growth and development of the state.
Udeze was speaking when he hosted members of Tax Justice and Governance Platform, (TJ&GP), on an advocacy visit to his office, under the Tax for Service Project implemented in partnership with the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, (CISLAC) with funding support from Oxfam Nigeria.
According to him, the present administration of Professor Chukwuma Soludo has through its massive infrastructural development, shown that tax money can be properly applied for common good.
“People don’t just like to pay taxes and they might have good reasons for such apathy in the past. But we all can see that the current administration is doing well with the revenues collected.
“Most of the infrastructural development this government is doing is tied to the taxes the people are paying and that is why the government of the day has not borrowed any money. If the tempo is sustained , I believe that more people will start to pay their taxes.
The speaker extolled the Tax for Service implementing team for the intervention which he noted contributes towards increasing the internally generated revenue of the state.
“This intervention is good. I am also doing my own assessment and so far, I discovered that the formal sector in the state is doing far better than the informal sector. Public servants pay their taxes without struggle while the informal sector like markets and parks are not performing well in terms of tax payment”.
“Also, when you talk about generating 4.6 billion in January. When you look into it critically, you find out that probably over 1 billion naira was expended in generating what was generated. That’s another issue to consider. I am of the view that we can do much more than we are doing currently and attention should be paid to the informal sector.
Earlier, Executive Director, Social and Integral Development Centre, host of Tax Justice and Governance Platform, Mrs Ugochi Ehiahuruike, who led the team, briefed the Speaker that the project is targeted at improved tax compliance among citizens and to increase the internally generated revenue, IGR of the state.
“Our aim in this campaign is to work with Anambra State to achieve increased IGR to further expand the infrastructural development we are seeing across the state. We acknowledge the strides of the present administration but we are now urging that attention must be paid to the markets also to ease transactions within and around them.
“From the 21 selected markets across the state, we discovered a long list of needs including solar power, borehole, intra-market roads, toilet facilities, fire trucks German flooring among others. We are of the view that when those needs are met across the markets, traders will be encouraged to pay their taxes and levies”.
She appealed to the Speaker to use his good position to get government to prioritize the needs of the markets as a way of boosting the state IGR. “Under this campaign, we’ve been going to major markets, sensitizing traders to ensure that they pay their taxes and to the right channels. We’ve also worked with the Anambra Internal Revenue Service, (AiRS).
“We are engaging you today as a critical stakeholder. We will be presenting the findings of the study that was conducted so that they can guide you on what the traders need the government to do for them. It will also inform our future engagement with the legislative arm of government,” she told the Speaker.
Some lawmakers and the Clerk of the House, Mr Anthony Ughenu were present during the meeting.
