job creation and poverty reduction commitments of the federal government. Describing move as ill-timed, detrimental and inappropriate, the former Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry noted that the norm would be to provide incentives for industries aid their recovery at a time like this.
Yusuf also pointed out that while the manufacturing sector has played a key role in President Buhari’s aspirations of creating jobs and alleviating poverty, if the tax burden becomes excessive, the sector would no longer be able to assist the government in reaching these goals.
“It is worthy of note that manufacturers are already paying numerous taxes and levies which puts a lot of pressure on them,” he said, adding that the tariffs which are already being paid by the industry include a 30 per cent corporate income tax, 7.5 per cent in Value Added Tax (VAT), along with education levies, withholding tax, environmental tax and a host of other unofficial taxes.
“There are also issues of extortions as a result of the checkpoints around the country, multitude of fees and levies imposed by many other government agencies at the Federal, State, and Local Government levels,” Yusuf pointed out. “Given the strategic importance of manufacturing to an economy, what the sector needs at this time is more stimuli to ensure better contribution to the GDP.”
