Hoteliers in Imo State under the aegis of Imo State Hoteliers Association (ISHA) are crying out over what they describe as continued multiple taxation system meted on them by the state’s board of internal revenue (IBIR). They hospitality chiefs said the obnoxious retinue of taxes had started from the immediate past administration of former governor, Rochas Okorocha; and wondered that the trend has continued in the present government headed by Governor Emeka Ihedioha.
The group is calling on Governor Ihedioha to intervene urgently to reverse the trend, as they said it was negatively affecting their business, which would in turn, force them to lay off some staff, thereby increasing the unemployment rate in the state.
Imo, an oil-rich state in the Niger Delta region, is groans under high unemployment. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for the third quarter of 2018 (Q3 2018) show that the State had the second highest unemployment rate and labour force population in the South-East geopolitical zone.
The Eastern Heartland State recorded an unemployment rate of 28.2%, and an underemployment rate of 15.1% in the last quarter of last year. The labour force population in the state also rose to 3,123,271, which is a 7.0% increase compared to the third quarter of 2017. The total net number of employed persons (full time and part-time/ underemployed) increased by 175,378 persons within Q3 2017 and Q3 2018, the NBS said.
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According to the hoteliers’ association, if the multiple taxation on operators of hotel and hospitality industry continued unabated, added to other problems, most of them might be forced to fold up, as they would be operating under increased running costs.
Chima Chukwunyere, the managing director of Domino Paramount Hotel, Owerri and the chairman of ISHA, said, alleged that some notorious tax agents who worked for the past administration of Okorocha had infiltrated the present IBIR revenue team masquerading as government revenue consultants.
He therefore, appealed to Governor Ihedioha to fish out the infiltrators, in line with the spirit of his “rebuild Imo” agenda.
Chukwunyere alleged that the infiltrators often connived with some staff of the state judiciary to secure kangaroo court judgments to seal-up business premises of some of ISHA members on trumped-up charges and with prohibitive fines.
“For instance, previously we used to pay N10,000 as fine on any hotel that defaulted in controlling waste water from its premises from gushing out to pose health hazard to the public; but this was hiked to N750,000 by the aggressive revenue consultants,” the ISHA boss lamented.
He said, Governor Ihedioha upon assumption of office, promised them of going to be a clear departure from the ugly past of Okorocha administration. But we’re yet to see it. We are therefore, calling on him to spare us from the hands of these hawks who do not mean well for our state,” he said.
Chukwunyere argued that the hotel and hospitality sector was perhaps the biggest industry and the largest employer of labour in Imo after the State government; noting that the unpatriotic activities of the tax consultants, if left unchecked by the present administration, would kill the hotel and hospitality sector in the state. “Some of the hotels would be forced to close business, and their workers thrown into the already saturated labour market,” he said.
According to him, rampant and indiscriminate sealing up of hotels by the revenue consultants on frivolous allegations has now become the order of the day in the state. He argued that hotels in the state generate huge revenue for the state government monthly; advising the Ihedioha administration not to allow those parading as revenue consultants to kill the geese that lay the golden eggs for it.
Meanwhile, Governor Ihedioha, briefing journalists at his private residence at New Owerri last Sunday, denied the existence of multiple taxation system in the state. He said his government has abolished the multiple tax system, but urged people to pay their taxes.
“There is no more multiple taxation in the state,” the governor said.
He disclosed that there would be some form of tax to be paid for refuse disposal, but that it must be a bill that has a human face. Let me tell Imo people that there is no multiple taxation. The Imo Internal Revenue Service (IIRS), we have gotten them to streamline things. Everybody will need to pay for the services, not because we are in a hurry to raise revenue, but to run the State,” he said.
