Subsidy: Commercial drivers sue for new tax policy in Anambra
Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
Commercial drivers in Anambra State have appealed to Governor Chukwuma Soludo to create a conducive avenue where they could pay their taxes on daily, weekly and monthly basis to the State Government.
The Awka Zonal Chairman of the Tricycle Owners and Riders Association, Prince Collins Ozojiofor, made the appeal during press interview in Awka.
Ozojiofor said Keke owners and riders in the state were in support of the State Government’s new digital tax policy for all in the transport sector in the State.
He noted that it created a conducive environment for the Government to collect its tax money seamlessly, rather than trusting it in the hands of few people whom he said do not return the tax money to Government coffer.
He said the problem with the digital tax system “remains the way and manner the tax process was structured and managed.”
According to him, Government has derailed completely from major objective behind the introduction of the Keke business by the Federal Government of Nigeria to alleviate poverty among the poorest of the poor in Country, especially the young Nigerian youths.
Ozojiofor said “commercial transporters are forced to pay for what they did not work for”.
He, therefore, wondered why the taskforce of the Government should force them to pay penalty for the days they did not go to work; “may be as a result of accident, ill health or travelling.”
The Chairman advocated that Keke riders in the state should be made to pay on daily basis and not to pay for the days they did not work.
He maintained that the present tax system meted out with the tricycle operators in the state has not gone down well with them.
“The current tax system needs to be redesigned as it affects the tricycle operators and the owners so that they could pay for only the days they were on duty through the digital payment”.
Corroborating, the Chairman Awka and Onitsha Bus Drivers Association, Mr. Fred Nweke said that the current modus operandi outlined by the State Government for the Keke and bus Drivers in the State needed some adjustment to tally with the current economic reality in the country.
He maintained that the drivers are not against the ongoing tax formula by the government, but want government to allow the tax payment by their members to become “daily toll” where they could pay on daily basis.
