Traders, KWIRS Trade Words over Outrageous Tax Payments

 Hammed Shittu in Ilorin 

Traders and businessmen in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, under the aegis of the Igbo Traders Association and Kwara State Internal Revenue Service(KWIRS) at the weekend traded words over the alleged  overtaxation of their businesses by the state revenue agency.

The development however led to protest and closure of shops and business centres owned by Igbo businessmen in Ilorin, the state capital.

The ugly situation also left many traders and businessmen stranded in such locations as Oko Erin, Murtala, Maraba, Agaka, Adabata,  Ibrahim Taiwo Road, and the General Hospital area, among other places in the state capital.

However, cross section of Igbo traders who spoke with journalists in Ilorin on the issue said that, “the revenue agency stormed their shopping complexes at about 10:00 am on Friday  with a revenue mobile court to prosecute them and lock up their business premises without being represented.”

Speaking, the First Vice President of the Igbo Traders Association, Nathaniel Nwogu, led other leaders and members of the association to the revenue court premises and state House of Assembly to register their grievances. 

He said that some of the business premises locked up deals in perishable goods.

Nwora, who suggested a roundtable discussion among representatives of the revenue agency, the state government, and the leadership of the Igbo Traders Association for an amicable solution, said that there would not be business growth and development in any unfriendly environment.

“For years, we’ve had this arrangement with the state tax office to collect our taxes collectively and submit them to them. In that way, we as a union have been able to identify our members who do not even have shops, or those who are three or four in a shop, and submit them to the tax office. Once we submit that money, the tax office will issue receipts based on the individual names we submit to them. The taxes are in categories of N7,000, N14,000, N25000, and N45,000 like that annually, “he said.

Responding to the allegations, the Corporate Affairs Department of the KWIRS, on behalf of the executive chairman, Shade Omoniyi, said that the revenue agency conducted the mobile court on Friday to prosecute recalcitrant taxpayers in the state to ensure tax compliance.