NAN-H-32
Tax
Jos, May 22, 2017 (NAN) The Plateau government says it will soon reintroduce community tax so as to raise more funds for community-based projects, especially in the rural areas.
Mr Pam Dong, Commissioner for Works and Transport, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Monday in Jos that the tax had been “there for long,” before it was abolished decades ago.
Dong said that the community taxes would be paid by “every eligible adult, and according to the status of the payees”.
“It used to be the quickest way of raising revenue to provide urgent services until it was stopped. We shall soon reintroduce it,” he said.
He hinted that taxes would also be paid on animals, but said that the modalities of the animal taxes were still being worked out.
The commissioner said that a sensitisation would be carried out before the reintroduction of the taxes.
“We shall ensure that the people are sensitised on the need for the community tax; we shall emphasise how it will be used and why it is necessary, so that everyone will see it as a responsibility,” he said.
He said that the campaign would soon commence, and expressed optimism that people would be “happy to pay” if they knew its benefits.
Dong regretted that the speed of road projects had been affected by the paucity of funds, promising that lots of roads, bridges and hospital projects would be executed in the rural areas with funds raised from community tax. (NAN)
OIZ/ECN/ETS
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Edited by Emmanuel Nwoye and Ephraims Sheyin