By Victor Ogunje
As part of the efforts to shore up its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for more infrastructural development, the Ekiti State Government has introduced mandatory payment of Property Tax by landlords and landowners across the 16 local government areas of the state.
To achieve the policy under the Land Use Charge Law, the government has begun aggressive enumeration of all buildings and landed property across the 130 towns in the state for hitch-free implementation of the tax policy.
The Chairman of the Ekiti State Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Muyiwa Ogunmilade disclosed this yesterday in a statement made available to journalists in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital.
Ogunmilade said the Ekiti State Property Tax Law backed by the State Land Use Charge Law No. 3 of 2013 , which comprises payment on ground rent, tenement rates and neighbourhood improvement levy, has been neglected for long, saying time has come for it to be put to full use in view of the low revenues from the federal allocation to the state .
He said Governor Kayode Fayemi was uninterested to impose double taxation or obnoxious tax policy on residents , clarifying that the new measure was just an implementation of an existing, but abandoned law.
“The LUC is an annual tax, payable in respect of all real estate property situated in Ekiti State, including ordinary parcels of land and with improvement except those exempted under the Law.
“Owners are expected to pay the LUC for their respective properties , or alternatively the tenants may pay and get reimbursement from the owners of the properties.
“For accurate charges to be arrived at, property identification officers or assessors have begun the process of enumeration of all properties in our state and this will provide proper guide for the government, because you have to pay based on the property owned.
“I appeal to our people to cooperate with the property identification officers in the course of discharging their duties by providing access and accurate information about their property”, he said.
