Expert Urges Rivers State Government to Protect Tax Paying Businesses
Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
A real estate strategist and Chief of Executive Officer of Mayor of Housing Limited, My-ACE China, has appealed to the Rivers State government to protect businesses in the State paying taxes.
China asked the state government to prioritise the protection of companies paying tax from violent and fraudulent revenue collectors.
The real estate strategist spoke at a breakfast meeting jointly organised by BusinessDay Media Limited in collaboration with Rivers Internal Revenue Service (RIRS), in Port Harcourt.
China, who gave other things government can do to encourage voluntary tax compliance in the state said businesses that pay taxes want to be free from multiple tax agents and violent tax collectors.
China stressed that a fraud-free tax collection system seems to emerge in Rivers State, but said this can be better if a one-stop-tax centre is created.
He said the sanity being brought into tax collection arena would help Rivers State witness fraud-free and violence-free tax system that would boost businesses and investments.
He suggested three things businesses want to see in the state in connection with tax collection including protecting the tax paying businesses, tax incentives, and harmonisation to make paying taxes easier and less bitter.
He said he could see an intent of ridding the state of these hoodlums by ensuring that there’s an emergency number business people can call when these people harass them and an intent to not only arrest these people but to prosecute them.
He also called for land sanitisation with digital systems like Abuja did to make land acquisition and development seamless.
He commended the Rivers Internal Revenue Service led by the Executive Chairman, Israel Egbunefu, for bringing sanity in tax collection and for partnering BusinessDay to begin tax education and engagement series with the private sector in the state.
In his speech, the RIRS boss, Egbunefu, outlined measures put in place to end tax touting, saying the system is being digitised.
