Date: 2017-06-06

The Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the Kwara Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (KWACCIMA) are squaring up with the Kwara State government over some pending bills in the state House of Assembly.

They contended that those bills, if operational, are dangerous for business in the state. MAN and KWACCIMA are claiming that the bills when passed into law would put more tax burden on them. But the state government via Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) said that bills are not meant to extract more tax from firms doing business in the state. Specifically, MAN and KWACCIMA kicked against the proposed 'manufacturing processing levy bill 2017' pending before the state House of Assembly.

MAN and KWACCIMA said the bill if passed into law is capable of killing industries and manufacturing in the state. Spokesperson of the groups Bioku Rahman urged Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed not to assent to the bill if it is passed to him.

The groups had, at a public hearing called by the state House of Assembly, joined other stakeholders to vehemently register their disavowal to the proposed bill.

Mr. Rahman hailed the governor's recent pronouncement of five years tax moratorium to small businesses, calling of the governor to extend the gesture to industries in the state. The spokesperson added that the tax holiday is enough "for the bill to be suspended or cancelled."

He said, "We believe that the governor is not aware of this bill that promises to potentially sound the death knell of manufacturing and industries in the state and we call on him to call his exuberant officials of the ministry of industry and solid minerals and KWIRS to order before they kill industries in the state. "MAN and KWACCIMA in the state employ 400,000 staff directly, about 98 percent of which are indigenes of the state and indirectly, we empower or employ about 800,000. Majority of which are Kwarans and they pay their taxes (PAYE) and other levies to the state coffers. "It is therefore imperative that the ministry and their collaborators prepare enormous budget for caskets for their self-inflicted undertaking job. "Those who drafted the bill appear to have undermined the grievous ripple effects of this totalitarian action in the 21st century." Rahman said that the bill "does not carry any rate unlike the companies income tax which 30 percent of total profit; Value Added Tax (VAT) 5 percent and Capital Gains Tax 10 percent of the gain. A situation where the rate of a tax or levy is at the whims and caprices of a consultant is a call for anarchy.

"The bill if passed into law will duplicate extant laws that govern taxation and regulations of companies as such will amount to proliferation of law and double taxation of our members. The bill will make products manufactured in the state be non-competitive with others manufactured outside the state and may lead to migration of the few companies remaining to nearby states as no state in Nigeria is collecting this level."

Stakeholders at a public hearing organised by the state House of Assembly had also faulted the state government's planned consumption tax bill, calling for it non-passage into law.

Some government agencies clamoured, though, for its passage.

The state Ministry of Justice from where the bills emanated and other ministries and agencies which made inputs to the bills had argued that bills were meant to drive revenue generation of the state.

Also in his submission, a representative of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) at the occasion, Muritala Olayinka emphasised the need for government to generate more fund for the state but cautioned "before any tax bill can be passed to generate fund, there is supposed to be an enabling environment."

KWIRS said that the bills are not meant to create new burden but to aide revenue generation of the state.

KWIRS added that the proposals are not illegal and urged the House to pass them into laws.