3rd November, 2018
The Benue State Internal Revenue Service (BIRS) said plans were underway to end multiple taxation and unauthorised revenue collection in the state.
Its Executive Chairman, Mr Terzungwe Atser, disclosed this on Saturday in a meeting with Federated Foodstuff association of Nigeria and Nigeria Lorry Drivers Association in his office.
Atser also pledged to tackle the menace of illegal revenue road blocks in the state.
He said he intended to work with the Joint Security Task Force in the state to arrest and prosecute all miscreants extorting money from traders through illegal road blocks on the highways.
He said he was committed to improving the revenue generation of the state while also fashioning out an acceptable tax regime that was not oppressive to traders and other entrepreneurs in the state.
The executive chairman, therefore, appealed to traders who were planning to carry out protest in the state over multiple taxes and illegal receipts on goods and services, to shelve their plan as efforts were ongoing to tackle the issues.
“We have resolved those issues of multiple taxation and illegal road block. We have also adjusted tariff on virtually all taxable items and have succeeded in stabilising the chaotic situations we met on assumption of office.
In their separate responses, the representatives of the two unions, Mr Afiannwu Christian and chief Eze Azuagu, expressed displeasure over the incessant harassment and extortion of their members by youths who mounted illegal roadblocks to extort money from them.
They said the activities of the illegal revenue collectors were scaring traders from the state.