"EVERYTHING IN ABUJA APPEARS TO BE TOO FREE": NEW "EVENT" TAX TO BE INTRODUCED

A new tax policy will be introduced soon by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) as an effort to generate more funds to meet pressing needs. The new tax policy, to be known as "event tax", is necessary to increase the revenue base of the government.

The director of economic planning and statistics, Mallam Isah Ari, speaking to the press after the weekly council meeting of the FCT administration, explained that the new tax policy will see residents and other visitors, who patronise various entertainment spots in the territory, pay 5 per cent VAT (Value Added Tax).

With the present tax regime in the territory, Mr. Ari continued, the FCTA was losing over N50 million every month, judging from a survey conducted in Wuse and Maitama with just 10 institutions.

"All we are asking for is that residents who go to hotels or relaxation centres should pay 5 per cent as VAT," he said.

"We need this money to provide infrastructure in the territory.

"Everything in Abuja appears to be too free and we are only asking people to pay something small so we can provide the needed infrastructure.

"People are now using POS [Point of Sale]. We are going to collect the new taxes through e-services. We'll have people that will verify how much was made in a week to ascertain how the various establishments pay," Mr. Ari further said.

When asked if the new tax policy has legal backing, Ari argued that the FCTA had the right to collect taxes, "like every other state."

"There are two issues. If you're talking about Board of Internal Revenue, FIRS [Federal Inland Revenue Service] is collecting on behalf of the FCT administration. The court has just given a judgment that NTDC [Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation] doesn't have the powers to collect hotel taxes. So, we will need to start collecting that.

"FCT is like a state. We can make little laws. Some people took FCT to court over the 'Park and Pay' policy, and we won. The court said we can do that. We need more money to pay bills," Mr. Ari emphasized.