Sola Ojo, Kaduna

Over 30,000 viable companies in Kaduna State don’t pay their taxes while few that pay don’t pay what they are supposed to pay, Chairman, Kaduna State Internal Revenue Services (KADIRS), Zaid Abubakar, has said.

He also decried failure of the 23 local government councils in the State to remit the backlog of remittances of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) and withholding taxes between 2013-2014, while plans have been concluded to audit their 2015-2018 financial years.

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Abubakar stated these yesterday while playing host to a group of civil society organisations under Tax Justice and Governance Platform which was formed in September with interest in tax reforms in Kaduna State.

The leader of that team, Rebecca Sako-John, had briefed the KADIRS boss on the objectives and areas of concern of the group which include, but not limited to, sensitising people on their tax responsibility and what they should expect in return; campaigning fair tax in the state by way of partnership with the agency. One of the key issues we want to address, she said, was that of duplication of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), saying, “we want to see the possibility of maintaining a quarterly publication of tax collected in the state so people can understand and begin to appreciate the need to pay their taxes. It is cheaper and easier to publish it online.”

She continued: “Campaign for tax for justice is another thing we want to see. We want to see a situation, for example, when the market people pay their taxes, we can see them having a good toilet facility they can see which will, in turn, improve and encourage prompt payment of taxes.”