Governor Ben Ayade, of Cross Rivers state

Goes after illegal tax collectors

By Ike Uchechukwu – Calabar

Cross River State governor, Professor Ben Ayade, on Monday has made a downward review of the state budget christened Olimpotic Meristemssis from 1.1trillion to 147 billion naira.

Recall that in December 2019 Gov Ayade had assented a budget of N1,100,168,507,687.94 but the review has brought it down to a meagre N147 billion following the current economic realities occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic.

The state Commissioner for Finance, Asuquo Ekpeyong jr. while addressing newsmen on Monday said the downward review was one of the ways to cushion the effects of COVID-19 in the state and forestall hardship occasioned by the pandemic.

Ekpeyong said: “The Cross River State government had taught it imperative to do some economic policies and measures in order to forestall this hardship and cushion the effect of the pandemic.

“The Cross River State government has reviewed it’s 2020 budget and amended it in line with current economic realities. The budget review exercise had the participation of and inputs of MDAs and CSOs in the state.

“The budget has been submitted to the Cross River State House of Assembly for its consideration, review and possible resolutions.The budget that has been submitted has a revised figure of 2020 Original Budget Figure of N147,130,166,966,” he said.

Speaking further, he said they considered four reasons before adopting the review including the downward projected federation revenues amongst others.

He said: “Four reasons were taken into consideration for to review, they include the downward projected federation revenues especially the Cross River State projected statutory revenue allocations from the federation account. Reduction in non-priority capital and recurrent expenditure.

“We focused on allocating a lot of expenditure to COVID-19 response programmes and exercises  which are targeted at relief , restructuring and recovery from the pandemic.The COVID-19 response items in the budget are marked at 16.3 per cent in the amended budget.

We expressly identified and stated the Finance sources to fully finance the budget deficit accumulating new domestic carriers,” Ekpeyong said.

On his part, the Chairman, Cross River Internal Revenue service, CRIRS, Mr Akpanke Ogar, said that henceforth government will go after individuals, who under the guise of tax collection extort money from very low-income earners whom government have exonerated from tax payment.

His words: “Individuals in Public sector (under the pay -as- you- earn- scheme) earning less than one hundred thousand monthly are granted tax relief from personal income tax, in line with provisions of the Cross River State Tax Exemption Law 2015(As Amended).”

“Self-employed persons (Artisans, Hawkers, Okada riders, tricycle riders, taxi drivers petty shops, barbing/ hairdressing saloons owners, restaurant/ eateries and others under presumptive tax regime are granted tax relief in line with provisions of cross River State Tax Exemption Law 2015( As Amended).”

The chairman stressed that abatement has also been granted on some categories of levies, taxes and revenue collectables from February 1, to December 31, 2020, urging residents of the state to contact them to enable them to have a full grasp of revenue transactions.

Vanguard