A coalition of 52 civil society groups under the aegis of empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative has enjoined the authorities of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) to embark on an aggressive property and luxury goods tax collection.
Convener of the group, Comrade Danesi Momoh addressing a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday warned the authorities against condoning any form of tax waiver or rebate on luxury goods sold in Nigeria again.
“We encourage the Federal Inland Revenue Service to step up plans for aggressive Property and Luxury Goods Tax. This is also one country where even those who have directly benefitted from the system evade tax by all means.
“This should stop because it is criminal, immoral, unpatriotic and a gross disincentive to the ordinary patriotic citizens who pay their taxes. There is no place in the world where people build mansions and abandon them. It happens here because they are not taxed. And it must not continue.
“Also any form of tax waiver or rebate on luxury goods should not be condoned in Nigeria again. In all this, the FIRS has the support of the progressive Civil Society.”
Applauding the Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue, Muhammad Mamman Nami effort to boost the internally generated revenue, the group observed that citizens are unable to hold government to account because they are not involved in revenue mobilization.
It noted: “If we want real change, we should also change. And there is no time better than now to change a lot of the things that have held us down while we complain of other things that are not necessarily the issue.
“Non payment of taxes or evading them is unpatriotic. And you have to be a patriot to deserve something good from your country. And if we are to have a stake in how our national wealth is gotten, then it will be completely impossible for anybody to steal, squander, embezzle or misappropriate it.
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