For too long, we depended on oil but oil is a depleting asset. The Land Use Charge, which provides a perfect replacement, is a permanent asset. We shall not wish away our obvious advantage, lest we shall be like that man who lives inside water but remains thirsty. Property tax is certainly the progressive way to go!
By Hon. Josef Omorotionmwan
As Edo State, nay the Oshiomhole-led administration, clocks seven, we congratulate the administration on successfully navigating the mucky waters of Edo politics.
In this ever dynamic world, man must constantly seek new ways of doing things. In just the same way that the blood of a small bird cannot produce the needed pepper soup; our little collections of Pay As You Earn, PAYE, tax from the toiling masses of the Nigerian workers cannot continue to be the main revenue source of any meaningful development, particularly in the face of our dwindling oil resources.
Elsewhere in the advanced democracies, governments do not place their total reliance for development on the PAYE tax. They have since discovered that property tax is a more progressive way to go.
As the name implies, property tax is targeted at the rich and propertied class. The rich get richer and they exert more from society with impunity.
Property tax is, therefore, the price that wealth pays for wealth. It is the only way of playing modern-day Robin Hood of taking from the wealthy to aid the needy. It is a just form of wealth redistribution.
The stark reality of the Edo State Land Use Charge Law, 2012 is that many who are opposed to it have not even set their eyes on it. Otherwise, they would have seen that it is a humane law with a human face.
It devotes the entire Section 8 to the class of people exempted from its ambit – the poor, religious bodies, public utilities, traditional grounds, family compounds, etc. This should dispel the ugly rumor making the rounds that the property tax is for everybody.
Again, the law makes a bold attempt to venture into solving the nagging unemployment problem facing the State. Between valuation and assessment; and between revision and collection, we see thousands of people being removed from the unemployment line.
More importantly, it will spur up development. By the time people pay property tax on a property that has been lying fallow, they will be forced to find a use for it and in the process, thousands of other unemployed youths will be gainfully engaged.
We believe that the State Government should have quietly completed the enumeration aspect before going public with the law.
Ours is a world of open ambivalence: People admire what is done with tax money but they hate to pay tax. They hate the taxman with passion and look upon him with disdain.
We remember the two faces of Apostle Paul – as a tax collector, he was hated but he later became the most admired man when he left the business of tax collection and moved into God’s vineyard.
Evidently, tax is the main source of revenue for all tiers of government. The earliest pre-colonial tax system in Nigeria was in the North because of its consistency with the principles of the prevalent Islamic religion in that Region.
With the amalgamation, taxation was first introduced by Lord Fredrick Lugard and the Native Revenue Ordinance was passed in 1918.
The Ordinance was first applied in Abeokuta in the present Ogun State and in Benin City in the present Edo State from where it extended to the defunct Eastern Region in 1923.
The Ordinance and other associated regulations were modified and incorporated into the Direct Taxation Ordinance No. 29 of 1943, which eventually formed the foundation of modern taxation in Nigeria.
In the particular case of the Land Use Charge, it is instructive that the major available recourse to government in the event of a default is the seizure of the property in question. It’s that important!
Despite the generally accepted importance of tax world-wide, it is sad that in Edo State, people are quick to introduce dirty politics into the issue of tax administration.
It looks like the case of a single bottle, which some would describe as half empty; while others say it is half full.
The negative elements that see the bottle as half empty are myopic as they are focused only on the next election. In their myopic stance, they are busy canvassing the idea that the property tax will be the very albatross of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in the State.
Those with a more positive outlook who see the bottle as half full are looking far beyond the next election, into the next generation.
To them, the property tax provides a winning formula. In the face of declining oil revenue, the property tax will provide the missing link and the wheel of development will continue progressively. After all, hard work and development will continue to be the antidote for electoral success.
The attacks on the noble intentions of the Oshiomhole administration point in one direction – nothing good comes easy.
All the same, when peace comes through appeasement and capitulation to cheap critics and outright cynics, the peace thus purchased is not worth the price. Better a confrontation than a cave-in. The good aspect of it all is that the end still justifies the means.
Property tax is the engine-room of the economy of most authorities across the world. In Lagos State for instance, the Land Use Charge came into effect in 2001, although not without challenges.
The case of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria v. Lagos State Government; Alhaji Razaq Adeyemi Olayinka, et al v. Lagos State Government; and Ayo Idowu v. Lagos State Government, all sought to restrain the Lagos State Government from implementing the Land Use Charge law.
One after the other, they collapsed like a deck of cards and Lagos State has remained triumphant. The Land Use Charge has been the mainstay of Lagos State economy.
For too long, we depended on oil but oil is a depleting asset. The Land Use Charge, which provides a perfect replacement, is a permanent asset.
We shall not wish away our obvious advantage, lest we shall be like that man who lives inside water but remains thirsty. Property tax is certainly the progressive way to go!
Hon. Josef Omorotionmwan is a public affairs analyst and Chairman, Board of Directors, Edo Broadcasting Service. He can be reached at: joligien@yahoo.com
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