By Prosper Okoye
The Benue State Internal Revenue (BIRS) has said people who complain of over taxation on business owners in the state, are unreasonable, as taxes are being charged with due consideration to the nature of the business one operates.
Speaking recently at the event of the Grand Patron Investiture, of the Association of Mobile Money Operators in Nigeria (AMMON), Benue State Chapter, the BIRS Chairman, Chief Mimidoo Azape said: “When given an amount to pay as a tax payer, you have the right to complain when you can’t pay. You can write to explain to the board the reasons why you cannot meet up with the given amount, and some considerations would be made.”
The BIRS chairman, who was represented by Mr Victor Beke said people who complained of over taxation are not being fair, because when the total charges are summed up, the amount paid in a year is still a negligible sum.
Also speaking, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) representative, Rose Bem Ugoh, added that “most payment collected by the government is not tax, but are levies for services that the citizens enjoy, and are been offered by the state and federal government.”
However, the Legal Adviser of AMMON, Joseph Gbagyo Esq. appealed to the tax collection agencies, that tax holidays should be given to the mobile money operators.
“No matter how we look at it, we cannot deny that there is too much taxation on businesses in the state. Some of these businesses began with little capital, and do not generate above 500,000 naira annually as profit.
“As an incentive, government should exempt them from taxation, until they become a conglomerate,” he stated.
Delivering a welcome address, Chairman of AMMON Benue state chapter, Mr Shedrach Orafa maintained that AMMON is one of the leading registered bodies of mobile money operators in the country; committed to provide guidelines, so as to hold members to account.
According to him, the association does its work “while protecting and promoting common interests and exploring novel ways to improve the ever changing mobile money ecosystem for greater service delivery.”
Mr Orafa further revealed that members of the association have encountered challenges in the course of operations, viz: “high cost of start ups, low level financial literacy, insecurity, lack of government support, and multiple taxations.” He solicited that the state government should come to their aid.
Benue state Police Commissioner, CP Wale Abass, enjoined the association members to take proper records of the customers that they transact business with, as criminals are taking advantage of the porous security nature of the business to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians.
Speaking on behalf of the commissioner, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Catherine
Anene advised the mobile money operators to be cautious of the places they site their business outfit.
“We have had so many cases of mobile operators being robbed of their money at gun point; on investigation, we discovered that the environment they operate in is lonely and unsafe to carry cash,” The Police commissioner said.
Highlight of the event was the patron investitures on the General Manager, Harvest FM Makurdi, Mrs Christiana Odeh Okpachu; Managing Director, Real Sector Development, Makurdi, Mr Nathaniel Igba, and the Managing Director, Ronald Mnyim Nig Ltd., Mr Ronald Mnyim.