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Kaduna govt justifies why every adult should pay N1,000 development levy

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The Executive Chairman, Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service (KADIRS), Dr. Zaid Abubakar, on Thursday, said that 70 per cent of development levy collected from adults in a community would be used to finance development projects in that community.

Abubakar made the disclosure in Kaduna while speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the validation meeting on the State Tax Perception Survey, organised by Tax Justice Network.

Abubakar said that the plan, if approved by the State Executive Council, would entrench tax for service, stir competition and promote tax compliance among communities in the state

According to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), KADIRS had in November 2020, announced plans to begin the collection of N1,000 annual development levy from all adults in the State in 2021.

Abubakar stated that the levy was in line with the provision of Section 9 (2) of the Kaduna State Tax Codification and Consolidation Law, 2020.

He said that all adults including those who pay Personal Income Tax must pay the compulsory Economic Development Levy by virtue of the law.

Read also: Sani begs Miyetti Allah groups to help rescue abducted Kaduna students

Abubakar noted that the service would leverage on traditional institutions to collect the levy because of their familiarity with people in their domain.

He said that ward heads, village heads, district heads and the higher chiefs would play vital role in the collection of the levy, which would be done from house to house and community to community.

“The way it is going to work is that 70 per cent of what we collected from each community or cluster will be used to finance developmental projects in the community or the clusters.

“So, if for example community A with a population of 10,000 residents collected N20,000 at the end of the year, the community will see infrastructural development commensurate with the amount it contributed.

“If community B with a population of 60,000 residents collected N50,000, the community will see higher investment in terms of infrastructure and other developmental projects.

“This is a way of giving back to the communities in the spirit of tax for service that will engender competition and a tax compliance community in the long run,” he said.

Dr Saied Tafida, Member, Tax Justice Network Steering Committee, had stated that the goal of the survey was to understand the challenges faced by citizens regarding the several tax reforms undertaken in the state and broaden conversation on domestic resource mobilisation.

By John Chukwu…

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