FCTA TO INTRODUCE EVENT TAX

The Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA) is set to introduce a new tax policy referred to as ‘event tax’ in order to increase the revenue base of the Authority.
According to the authority, the new policy which will see residents and other visitors who patronize various entertainment spots pay 5 percent Value Added Tax is to enable the authority generate more funds to meet the provision of needed infrastructure.
Addressing newsmen shortly after the weekly council meeting of the FCT Administration, the director of Economic Planning and Statistics, Mallam Isah Ari said the tax policy is imperative as FCTA loses N50m every month with its present tax regime.
“We’ve done a survey in Wuse and Maitama with just 10 institutions and discovered that we lose more than N50 million monthly. All we are asking for is that residents who go to hotels or relaxation centres should pay 5 percent as VAT,” he said.
He said that the money generated from the new policy would be used to provide infrastructure in the territory.
“Everything in Abuja appears to be too free and we are only asking people to pay something small so that we can provide the needed infrastructure,” he added.
He stated that the authority has concluded plans to collect the new taxes through electronic services as such measures are in place to verify how much was made in a week to enhance accountability.
He laid to rest the row about the legality of the new tax policy, saying that the FCTA has the right to collect taxes like every other state.
“There are two issues. If you’re talking about Board of Internal Revenue, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is collecting on behalf of the FCT Administration. The court has just given a judgment that Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) doesn’t have the powers to collect hotel taxes. So, we will need to start collecting that.
“FCT is like a state. We can make little laws. Some people took FCT to court over the Park and Pay policy. We won and the court said we can do that. We need more money to pay bills,” he further stated.

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