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The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has call on the Kano state government to review the new Land Use Charges, it introduced, as there is no provision in Nigeria Tax Law that stipulated closure of business premises because of tax payment.
The Association made this call in a statement it made available to BusinessDay, weekend, in respect of the 8-man Taskforce constituted by the government charged with the mandate of enforcing the new tax law
The statement signed by Tijjani Ahmad, executive secretary of the Kano chapter of the association reads: “According to information available to the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Kano State Government has constituted a Task Force saddled with the responsibility of collection of Land Use Charges.
“MAN views the constitution of the Task Force as a negation of the outcome of Kano State of Assembly`s Committee `s report and our good intention to respect constituted authority by following all legal means to settle our grievance.
“While, the report adopted by the Assembly’s Joint Committee on Finance and Economic Development, Land and Physical Planning and Judiciary on petition filed by us stressed the need for Government to direct revenue collection agencies to enter into memorandum of understanding with stakeholders and consider reducing the number of charges;
“As well as called for the establishment of stakeholder’s forum to include tax payers in the articulation of decisions and modalities of revenue collection in the State, in line with the prevailing economic realities, the Government seems to be less interested in the report”.
The statement reads further: “Based on the report, according to the association has aleardy commenced dialogue with management of M.N Yahaya & Associate, the consultant engaged by the State Government to collect the Land Use Charges as part of the implementation of the recommendation of the state House of Assembly.
“Our intention has never been confrontational with the Government, as our unflinching support and respect for constituted authority is unshakable, but that does not mean testing our patience. We can as well behave indifferently, like our counterparts in other states.
“However, we wish to sound a word of caution that nowhere in the Nigeria `s Tax Law was there any provision for the closure of businesses because of tax payment. We thereby appealed to the State Government to allow the process of dialogue to continue as adopted by the House of Assembly” .
