By Chris Paul
The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) yesterday lamented that its members were reeling under the burden of multiple taxation undermining its recovery from the impact of COVID-19.
NAPPS President, Chief Yomi Otubela expressed this concern in an interview with THISDAY, noting that proprietors of private schools “are burdened with a series of multiple taxes and levies.”
According to him, there are so many taxes and levies owners of private schools are being charged and it is taking a toll on our business.
He said: “What the NAPPS members will like to see is a situation whereby the governments will collapse all levies and taxes into one major tax in order to avoid multiple taxation.
“We are hoping the governments – state and local – would harmonise all these taxes and levies into a one-stop office where our members would know all they are supposed to pay and make payment there and then,” the president observed.
He argued that the governments could then withdraw money from its Treasury Single Account (TSA) and distribute it to the different bodies that make up the tax group.
He noted that some of the levies “involved ministries, agencies and governments at state and local levels. We have the Ministry of Health coming to demand for one levy. We have the Ministry of Transportation asking for a signage permit.
“We have the Ministry of Education, itself, asking for yearly renewal. We have a vehicle-licensing body asking for a special permit for student carriage. We have what we call radio and television levy. There is also a sanitation levy,” Otubela lamented.
He, therefore, said that many of the levies and taxes “are needless replication of taxes, which come in different names that he described simply as multiple taxation.
“We are appealing to the government to justify some of these taxes and where they cannot be expunged,” appealed the president of NAPPS.
Otubela further urged the governments “to mandate the association’s mother ministry to coordinate all these various taxes, so its members can pay as one bloc.
“It is necessary for the government to harmonize these taxes under one body so we can get this done and move on to other demands of running our schools. But it is important to note that we have limited resources to fund our schools,” he stated.
NAPPS is made up of about 40,000 private schools scattered all over the country, who came together over 15 years ago to harmonise their diverse operations and coordinate academic curriculum; to achieve the singular objective of generating an educational system guided by global best practices.
