Bus, Tricycle Drivers In Anambra Beg for New Tax Regime
…Appeal for daily pay
The bus and Tricycle (keke) owners and drivers in Anambra State have appealed to Governor Chukwuma Soludo to create conducive avenue where they can pay their taxes on daily, weekly and monthly basis to the State Government.
The Awka Zonal Chairman of the Tricycle Owners and Riders Association, Prince Collins Ozojiofor, made the appeal during press interview in Awka.
Prince Ozojiofor, who stated that the Keke owners and the riders in the state were in support of the the State Government’s new digital tax policy for all in the transport sector in the State, argued that it had created a conducive environment for the Government to collect its tax money seamlessly, rather than trusting it in the hands of a few people, whom he said, do not pay in the tax money into Government coffer.
He said that their problem with the new digital tax policy of the present administration In the state is the way and manner the tax process is currently structured and managed, adding that the Government had derailed completely from major objective behind the introduction of the Keke business by the Federal Government to alleviate poverty among the poorest of the poor in the Country, especially the young Nigerians.
Prince Ozojiofoe noted that the main problem they are having with Governor Soludo was that they were being forced to pay for what they did not work for, and wondered why Govenment taskforce should force them to pay penalty for the days they did not go to work either as a result of accident, ill health or travelling.
The Chairman, who said that they were advocating what he described as pay as you go, where the Keke riders could choose to pay on daily basis and not to pay for the days they did not work, explained that such tax system do not go down well with them .
He called for the redesigning of current tax system as it affects the tricycle operators and the owners so that they can pay through the digital payment, only on days they are on
He then argued that the State Government’s Tax Force can then apprehend defaulters, prosecute them and make them pay the stipulated penalty therein any time suitable to them.
He recalled that they massively supported the Governor during the election, hence he should hear their cry and come to their aid, as the father of the State, and shun the antics of some people who feed him with wrong information, and create wrong impression about Keke riders, stressing that they are not happy with the method of tax collection being forced on them now by the State Government.
“How could a Keke rider who is under high purchase cope with this new tax policy? How can a person, who depend on his daily income to carter for his family, feed and pay the school fees of his children, cope under this system?”, he asked.
Also speaking, the Chairman, Awka and Onitsha Bus Drivers Association, Mr. Fred Nweke, corroborated Prince Ozojiofor’s stand, saying that the current modus operandi outlined by the State Government for the Keke and bus Drivers needed some adjustments to tally with the current economic reality in the country.
He opined that they were not against the ongoing tax formula by the Government, but what they stood for, is for the Government to allow tax payment by their members to become optional, recalling what he called “daily toll”‘ when they paid on daily basis during the Willie Obiano administration.
0
0
