By Victor Ahiuma-Young

ORGANISED private sector, OPS, through Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, has secured a landmark judgment at the Federal High Court against Kano State Revenue Administration (Amendment) Law, 2017, as the court, in its ruling, invalidated the Consumption Tax provisions of the law.

Justice John Tsoho of Federal High Court, Abuja, set aside the provisions of the Kano State Revenue Administration (Amendment) Law 2017, as it amounted to the duplication of Value Added Tax, VAT.

The court further restrained Kano Government and Kano State Inland Revenue Service from implementing the provisions of the said law.

Speaking in Lagos, Director-General of NECA, Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo, noted that “the legal action became necessary as Kano State Government, through its Kano State Revenue Administration (Amend-ment) Law 2017, had introduced and imposed a Consumption Tax.

“The tax was payable by consumers of goods and services bought or rendered in any hotel, restaurant, eatery, bakery, suya spot, shopping mall, store, event centre and other similar businesses in the State.

“It amounts to a tax on the same goods and services to which the provisions of the Value Added Tax Act already applied.”

He expressed NECA’s confidence in the Rule of Law, thus the recourse to the judiciary for relief in the face of illegality foisted upon its members, urging “other state governments to operate within the ambits of the law.

“At the last count, businesses in Nigeria are encumbered with the payment of over 55 different taxes at the three levels of government.”