out of over 22m population in lagos state holy 600.000 resident pay there tax
governor say when speaking in an event in lagos state
read the speech of the governor down
While speaking at the recent sensitization workshop on 2017 Water
Technology and Environmental Control Exhibition and Conference (WATEC),
Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, said out of a massive population
of 22million, only 600,000 Lagos residents are up to date in paying
their taxes, and that such was not helpful to scale up provision of
infrastructure and other amenities for the people.
According
to the governor, the government has identified the need for residents
to adopt a willful approach to the payment of taxes as a means of
addressing fundamental challenges confronting the State and accelerating
development in all sectors and sections.
Responding
to a suggestion from one of the participants at the workshop that the
State Government should complete the ongoing shoreline protection
particularly in the Lekki and Ajah axis as one of the ways to mitigate
the impact of torrential rainfalls which caused flooding in the axis
last week, Governor Ambode said in as much as government was willing to
do such, it was being inhibited by its limited resources.
He
said: “Talking about protecting our shoreline, I want to tell you
something. The ecological fund that someone talked about does not exist
because the previous government, due to political consideration, never
gave Lagos anything and protecting the shoreline runs into billions.
“Even
doing those groins not to allow the water to break cost a lot of money
and then with frozen taxes in the last eight to ten years, there has not
been any increase in taxes unlike in the United Kingdom for instance
where any young person living there knows that once you start working at
the age of 18, your civic obligation is that you must pay tax but here
nobody takes it as their business that the new road I am using I need to
pay something and so they only pay tax when they are inside the real
tax net that is you are paying pay as you earn.
“That
is the only way we can catch you and so everybody takes it for granted
that government will do it and there is nothing like government money,
it is taxes that people are paying that you are asking for this
shoreline protection, it is from the taxes that you are asking for us to
de-flood, it is from the taxes that you are asking for us to do the
roads and all that.
“The number of people
paying taxes in Lagos is less than 600,000 people and we are 22million
and then 67 percent of the people living in Lagos are below the age of
35 and even the retirees, how much are they paying? They are on pension.
So, you have to go through your nose and you want to be as
compassionate as possible that in a recession, you don’t overtax
people.”
According to him, it was time for a
convergence between civic obligations and the ability of government to
build trust by using taxes of citizens judiciously, just assured that
his administration, within the available resources, would continue to
invest in infrastructure and deliver good governance to make life
comfortable and easier for the people.
“What I
am saying is that there must be a convergence between civic obligations
and the ability of government to build trust and be able to tell people
that you know what, the little that you are giving me, I will use it
judiciously. When I use it judiciously and you see it overtime, trust
me, if you pay more, I will do more.
“Obviously,
the vision is there, the plan is there but again it is not driven by
anything than the citizens themselves and the area that we need
improvement is for citizens to have trust or confidence that the taxes
they are paying will be returned back in terms of infrastructure but I
can tell you that I am also concerned; I see a lot of things I don’t
like but I am inhibited by the amount of money I have,” Governor Ambode
said.
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