In a bid to generate more revenue, the Akwa Ibom state government has
announced that henceforth, tax will be paid for consumption of alcohol
in hotels and beers parlous in the state.
This was made known by the Akwa Ibom state Commissioner for Finance,
Akan Okon, on Saturday while speaking in Uyo, the state capital.
“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),” the commissioner said.
While stating that more revenue will be raised if the informal sector
paid their taxes, the Commissioner berated businesses who don’t pay
taxes.
The commissioner said: “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.”
“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.”
Okon said that the Akwa Ibom government will soon call a state summit to discuss the issue.
“As a state, we intend to ensure that we widen the tax net and also
engage the informal sector to ensure that we derive the maximum
opportunity that is available in this area.”
“With the summit coming up, the issue of poor tax payment will be a thing of the past.”
