Katsina Govt Set to Recover N5billion from Tax Defaulters

A special court has been set up by Katsina State government to recover N5 billion from tax defaulters in the state.

The executive chairman of the state’s Board of Internal Revenue, Aminu Danrabbati,  speaking with reporters on Sunday,February 14, said the measure was taken after several letters sent to defaulters to pay monies they owed.

Danrabbati said except for a few that honoured the letters, several of the defaulters were yet to settle their taxes, which had accumulated over months and years. He said when the court commences operation, defaulting individuals and organisations would appear before it, warning that those who fail to do so would be prosecuted.

“We will soon start to invite defaulting individuals and organisations to appear before the court, and we have engaged a competent lawyer for recovery of the debt,” he said.

He however lamented failure by some wealthy individuals and organisations to pay taxes into the coffers of the state government.

He said government could not provide needed social amenities if such shy away from paying their taxes as at when due. Danrabbati said the setting of the special court would assist the state government to meet its targeted revenue of N16 billion for this year.

He said the board has engaged the services of a consultant for the training of staff of the board for better performance. He said the consultant would also commence the enumeration of tax payers across the state.

He said: “The consultant would also conduct atomisation of the operation of the board to improve our performance in revenue generation.” He said the board has been able to block avenues of corruption among the staff, and that as a motivation, each revenue officer would be given two per cent of the amount of revenue collected.