Knocks greet Ambode’s extension of income tax to domestic staff
Lagosians have expressed their misgivings over the decision of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to extend the state’s tax regime to drivers, security men, housemaids and other categories of domestic staff. Penultimate week, Chairman of the Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS), Olufolarin Ogunsanwo, disclosed that the state government was set to explore the informal sector to ensure […]
Lagosians have expressed their misgivings over the decision of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to extend the state’s tax regime to drivers, security men, housemaids and other categories of domestic staff.
Penultimate week, Chairman of the Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS), Olufolarin Ogunsanwo, disclosed that the state government was set to explore the informal sector to ensure tax compliance by household and domestic staff.
“According to the tax laws, everyone that earns less than N3000,000 as income annually are required to pay one percent as tax which translates into N3,000 annually or N250 monthly,” he said.
He explained that his agency had identified three categories of tax payers in the informal sector, namely the market men, women and artisans; micro and medium enterprise owners including professionals; and household domestic staff which include drivers, security men and housemaids.
Ogunsanwo added that since governance was about civil engagement and inclusion, it was expected that everyone in the informal sector would voluntarily comply with the tax law by filing returns in the tax form and be given assessment accordingly.
But some respondents spoken to by Eko Trust said the state government’s extension of taxes to the lower cadre of people in the society was ill-advised and insensitive.
Mr. Adetayo Taofik, a school bus driver, said that the government did not conceive the plan well before extending such tax to people in his category.
“I don’t understand a system that is bent on stripping poor people like me of our meagre salaries. I work and stretch myself beyond the ordinary monthly, for the little I earn, yet somebody somewhere is talking about imposing additional tax.
‘‘What happens to those indirect taxes I pay daily on consumption and other services I enjoy in the state. I think this decision is insensitive, inhuman and the best thing the governor should do is to halt the implementation of this law,” he said.
A housemaid in Lagos Island, who pleaded anonymity, said: “Asking me to pay tax out of my insufficient salary is suicidal.”
She added that her salary could not cater for her needs, let alone her four children and her husband who, according to her, is presently jobless.
“I really don’t know how to explain the hardship the Lagos State government is about to add to my burden as a result of this tax thing. I don’t know how I will cope with my family. I don’t know whether to move out of Lagos,” she stated.
For Mudasiru Alao, a security man, the tax regime would have a serious implication on him. “Sometimes, I am owed a backlog of salaries by my employer. I depend on friends to feed myself and my family. How do I pay tax in such condition?” he queried.