By Adadareporters
The Enugu State government has sealed the premises of 16 corporate institutions, including schools, hotels and consulting firms over alleged tax evasion.
Mr Emmanuel Nnamani, chairman of the State Internal Revenue Service, ES-IRS, said this during a news briefing on the operations of the service.
Mr Nnamani said the organisation decided to embark on the exercise following the alleged refusal by the owners and managements of the businesses to respond to government’s repeated reminder letters.
According yo him, “We have written to them severally but they thought it was business as usual.
“So, we approached the court, and the court gave us authority to seal the premises.”
Nnamani said that the companies and businesses in Enugu State had not paid taxes since 2015, amounting to several millions of naira.
According to him, people had no reason not to pay tax under the current administration, adding that, “Those who pay tax in Enugu State are not up to 10 per cent. We are losing huge amounts of money to tax defaulters every month.
“The government recently flagged off the construction of 71 roads in the state capital, among several others, and we need money to execute all these projects.
“If people do not pay their taxes, where then do we get the money to execute such people-oriented projects? I want our people to understand this and cooperate with us, in the interest of the state.”
The IRS chairman also said that tax is a contribution by citizens and residents toward the development of society.
He, therefore, urged the people to join hands with the government to develop the state by paying their taxes, regularly.
“I can assure you that at the end of this administration, Enugu State will not be the same again,” Mr Nnamani said.
He further said that the Peter Mbah-led administration had achieved over 200 per cent service delivery in the past seven months of the administration.
