Akwa Ibom Commissioner for Finance, Akan Okon, said the state would begin to tax consumption of alcohol in hotels and beer parlours.
Okon confirmed to journalists in Uyo over the weekend that people who consumed alcoholic drinks would henceforth pay a token as tax.
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“Some people who lodge in hotels and consume alcohol will henceforth pay taxes to the state government. The focus is to look inward to see how the various opportunities that are available in the state can be harnessed to raise the Internally Generated Revenue(IGR),’’ he said.
The commissioner lamented the attitude of some businessmen in the informal sector of the economy who failed to pay tax to government, and said if the state would pull the resources together and that would help in providing social amenities in the state.
He further explained that Property and entertainment tax were not collected in the state in order for tax uniformity in the state, while the state government had put measures in place to ensure that revenue opportunities were tapped to raise its IGR.
The commissioner said that a new tax consultant had been appointed to block leakages associated with revenue collection.
“We have in place a new consultant that is working closely to ensure that we block all the leakages associated with revenue collection system in the state,” he said.
The commissioner explained that e-receipt system had been introduced to check revenue leakages in the state.
“We are introducing electronic e-receipt instead of the manual receipt, this is one of the avenues we believe will help sort out some leakages that are associated with a manual receipt,” he said.
Mr. Okon said the state government would soon convene a tax summit to rub minds with its stakeholders.
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