The Chief of Staff, Government House, Asaba, Hon Prince Johnson Erijo, has called on Non Governmental Organisations in the state to assist in sensitizing the informal sector of the economy on the need to pay tax.
Hon Erijo, who made the call when a delegation of the Society of Women in Taxation (SWIT) Delta State chapter, paid him a courtesy visit at Government House, Asaba, said records had shown that the burden of taxation was largely on the workforce, constituting the formal sector.
The Chief of Staff highlighted the difficulty of capturing the informal sector operators, including artisans, traders and small business owners, in the tax net, which had robbed the state of substantial revenue needed for developmental purposes.
He maintained that Governor Sheriff Oborevwori was judiciously and prudently utilizing the state’s resources for infrastructural and human capital development across the three senatorial districts, which he said should encourage people to pay tax.
Hon Erijo remarked that tax evasion was unpatriotic and inimical to the growth and development of the economy, stressing that every citizen of Nigeria, whether on paid employment or in business, owed it a duty to pay tax, which remained a core civic duty.
The Chief of Staff commended the Society of Women in Taxation for the various programmes and activities it had undertaken to change the narrative of tax evasion in the informal sector of the state and encouraged the group to do more, with a pledge of government’s support.
Earlier in her remarks, the leader of the delegation and Chairman of the group, Mrs Rose Egbo, said the visit was to familiarize the Chief of Staff with the activities of the body, which were geared towards sensitizing the informal sector operators on the need to pay their taxes.
Mrs Egbo said the focus had been on encouraging those paying to continue to do so, those under paying to pay correctly and those not paying to endeavor to pay, as taxes remained a major source of revenue for the government to be able to provide the basic needs of the people.
She said the organization had taken its sensitization programmes to different informal sector groups, disclosing plans to embark on capacity building at the grassroots level to further strengthen its activities.
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