Hotel owners in Oyo State have lamented the pain and untold hardship they are being subjected to over the excessive taxes being imposed on them by the Oyo State Board of Internal Revenue, an agency of the Oyo State government and thus expressed their readiness to drag the board to court with a view to stopping what they described as excessive taxation.
The hoteliers under the aegis of the Hoteliers Association of Oyo State made this known in a letter written on their behalf by their legal practitioners, Kunle Abimbola and Co. Aderemi chambers.
The letter directed the agency to henceforth desist from sending demand notices to hoteliers in the state.
The hoteliers had earlier called on Governor Seyi Makinde to intervene and stop the alleged duplication of taxes by consultants in the state but there was no positive response.
Part of the letter reads: “Some of our members are already being forced out of business. This is apart from the fact that they have to sort some other things like diesel to service their facilities. It just doesn’t make any sense. Even, things are not as bad as this in Lagos.
For example, hoteliers pay more than 18 different taxes. The land use charges is another one. They just come with taxes anytime. We are not saying we should not be taxed but they should reason with us. We are partners in progress with government. The role we perform cannot be overemphasized. Investors come to town because they have conducive places to lay their head on. Yes, we make money from it but it is a win-win for everyone. Another factor is that the employment generated through hospitality business, education and others have assisted greatly in taming criminalities in the land.”
The hoteliers further disclosed that the heavy taxes are having effect on their businesses, adding that they can’t even employ more hands because of the bills they needed to pay.
“Is it not too bad for the consultants to come up with 18 different taxes? The names they tag them are so ridiculous that you will have headache immediately you see this. This is despite the fact that government provides almost nothing in return for all these monies collected. We do almost everything ourselves.
Another funny thing is that these people who they hired as consultants are not residents here. Their businesses are not located here. If they are residents and have businesses here, they will feel our pains. They should pity us. We buy everything with pain. You all know the price of diesel now. We can’t increase our charges. We can’t reduce salary of staff.
We are helping government more than they are helping us. The jobs government claims they are generating are majorly through business owners.
We urge our amiable Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde to help us look into this. While we are not saying we don’t want to pay tax, government should not add to our burden. They should talk to these consultants to stop duplications of taxes.” The hoteliers appealed.
