Consumption tax raises dust in Delta State

Protests have continued to unsettle the Delta State Consumption Tax as stakeholders threatened legal action against the state government .

The state government had recently unveiled the new tax law through the Internal Board of Revenue (DBIR) for state occupants, restaurants and departmental stores.

But some group of persons who claimed to members of the good governance in the statement to protest against the law, chided the state government’s alleged nonchalant activities in the last eight years especially in the welfare of Deltans, stating that the tax was an aberration and process to divert funds.

In a statement signed by Martin Adigbe and Festus Abbadah, chairmen and secretary respectively, the group said: “we will not subscribe to the tax, it is condemnable and uncalled for, considering the deplorable recession. We will resist any attempt by the state government to enforce the tax on Deltans, we need meaningful development, and not arbitrary tax from Deltans”.

As it were, the Executive Chairman of the DBIR, Sir Monday Onyeme had last week appealed to residents in the state to patriotically comply with the new tax consumption law, disclosing that for effectiveness, the Board had perfected its implementation modalities.

Onyeme noted that the gradual dwindling finances particularly from the federation account, underscored the compelling need to introduce the new tax among other tax types collected, in other chimes, but hitherto not introduced in the state.