By Akpokona Omafuaire
WARRI—AHEAD of the 2011 general elections, Chairman, Delta State Board of Internal Revenue, Mr. Joel Onovwakpo, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to include in its screening exercise of politicians, the verification of their tax clearance certificates.

Onovwakpo made the plea, yesterday, in Warri, Delta State, at an interactive meeting of all sectors of the Revenue Board.

According to him, “it is right that people should pay their taxes, especially if they want to be in government. Those who do not pay their taxes should be disqualified from running in the forth coming elections.”

He warned members of the board not to involve themselves in faking tax clearance certificates to anybody, no matter who is involved. He also warned against any form of shady deals capable of ruining the good image of the board.

“We want people to pay their taxes especially if they want political positions. I want you to assist people to clear their taxes and when doing so, stay within the limit of the law.

Do not do anything outside the law. If we discover that anyone of you is aiding someone to evade the law, we will allow the law to deal with such a person.”

“You should put down the date of payment of such taxes. I want the INEC to be strict with the issues of tax clearance,” he said.

On his part, Mr. Austin Oboroegbeyi, member of the board from Delta South charged members to be upright in the discharge of their duties and they should not feel intimidated by anybody.

Mrs. R.O. Okwueshi advised members to always pass through their Resident Co_ordinators whenever they are issuing tax clearance certificates so that they can avoid problems.