The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has described as unacceptable, the imposition of over 50 different taxes, levies, and fees on businesses by local, state, and federal governments.
This is even as the association raised the alarm over the five different Bills at various stages of legislation in the National Assembly, all seeking to impose taxes and levies on businesses.
The Director-General of NECA, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, listed some of the existing levies including the National Information Technology Development Levy (NITDA Levy), Education Tax (or Tertiary Education Tax), National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Company Income Tax (CIT), Television and Radio License Fee, Local Content Levy and Stamp duty, among others.
He lamented that the action will not only reduce the competitiveness of the industries but will also increase the cost of doing business and further reduce the potential sustainability.
Oyerinde pointed out that debt and paucity of revenue are some of the challenges businesses are already dealing with and should not be made to suffer the lack of proper economic planning and political will that have pervaded successive administrations.
He decried that at a time when the government should do everything necessary to protect businesses from total collapse and reduce the increasing unemployment rate, there are proposals to further increase excise tax on select products, including spirits, alcoholic and non-alcoholic products.
Oyerinde said the government would do well not to further burden the real sector with additional taxes and stringent regulatory environment, taking into cognisance other challenges such as shortage of Forex and stringent regulatory environment as well as non-alignment of fiscal and monetary policies.
He emphasised the need for the government not to over-burden enterprises, adding that as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) comes into full swing, Nigeria cannot afford to become a dumping ground for cheap imported products because we have refused to protect local businesses.
The association said the best thing for the government to do at this time was to expand the tax net, take a bold step towards stopping the oil-theft industry, take more than a cursory look at national assets that are laying waste and “address the national embarrassment called the petrol subsidy regime.”
“As a panacea to the ever reducing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), rising unemployment and multi-facet revenue challenges, the government and its agencies must protect local businesses and make the operating environment more hospitable,” it added.
