Foreign-owned Restaurants In Kano To Sack Employees Over New ‘Controversial’ Tax By State Government

A newly introduced levy by the Kano State Government has thrown the operations of foreign-owned restaurants in the city into a state of uncertainty.
SaharaReporters gathered that the administration of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje in January 2022 slammed a N500,000 annual levy on foreign-owned restaurants under the guise of tourism development, causing uproar among business owners in the state.

This new levy is in addition to several other taxes restaurant owners, hotel and event centre operators are made to pay monthly and annually by the state government, it was gathered.
For instance, those in this category pay local government harmonisation fee, fire service fee, VAT, personal income tax, withholding tax, Standards Organisation of Nigeria inspection fee, fumigation fee to local government, local government parking permit, Kano State Ministry of Health fee, Kano State Ministry of Environment fee, occupational health fee, food handling certificate fee, Primary Health Management Board fee.
According to persons affected by the new policy, who spoke with SaharaReporters, the development will not only affect their overall operations, especially going by the present state of Nigeria’s economy but force them to reduce the number of their employees significantly to remain in business.
“While Nigerians, who own restaurants, are to pay between N50,000 and N100,000 based on the size and volume of sales of such restaurants, we foreigners were not given such an opportunity. We have been levied N500,000 annually under what the state government described as tourism development.
“The state government forgot that in the foreign-owned restaurants, 98 per cent of the workers are Nigerians while 70 per cent are Kano State indigenes.
“Does the Kano State Government want to chase us out of the state and render a lot of youths jobless despite the high level of unemployment in the state? This is really sad,” a manager in one of the affected restaurants said.
A senior official of another affected investment, who was concerned by the new policy and gave her name only as Grace, told SaharaReporters on Thursday that the move would cause more problems than offer any economic benefit.
“The N500,000 is to be paid yearly irrespective of several taxes being paid by us. If the state continues with this outrageous levy, a lot of businesses will close down soon.
“The Kano State Government should be concerned about the well-being and standard of living of citizens, especially those earning a living from the jobs we provide. If we are grounded as a result of this new policy, it will affect a lot of families in Kano because a lot of people will become jobless.
“If the state government refuses to reverse the policy, we may have no other choice but to reduce the number of our employees. That is the only way we can remain in business with the way the government is handling this issue,” she said.
It was the same story for local restaurant and hotel operators, who have all been groaning from the weight of several obnoxious levies slammed on them by the Kano State Government in recent times.
According to them, the latest development will further affect their businesses, which were already facing low patronage as a result of the economic hardship in the country.
“If we consider all the levies and taxes government slams on us monthly and reflect that in the prices of our services, we may not have a single customer anymore.
“We have been incurring a lot of losses already; the state government must understand this and make things easier for us,” a hotel manager at a popular section of Kano metropolis, said.
When SaharaReporters called the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Taskforce on Enhancement/Enforcement of Development Levy, Babba Dan’Agundi, repeatedly, he did not answer. He had also not replied to a text sent to his mobile line as of the time of filing this report.

News

AddThis

: 

Original Author

: 

SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK

Disable advertisements

: 

A newly introduced levy by the Kano State Government has thrown the operations of foreign-owned restaurants in the city into a state of uncertainty.
SaharaReporters gathered that the administration of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje in January 2022 slammed a N500,000 annual levy on foreign-owned restaurants under the guise of tourism development, causing uproar among business owners in the state.

This new levy is in addition to several other taxes restaurant owners, hotel and event centre operators are made to pay monthly and annually by the state government, it was gathered.
For instance, those in this category pay local government harmonisation fee, fire service fee, VAT, personal income tax, withholding tax, Standards Organisation of Nigeria inspection fee, fumigation fee to local government, local government parking permit, Kano State Ministry of Health fee, Kano State Ministry of Environment fee, occupational health fee, food handling certificate fee, Primary Health Management Board fee.
According to persons affected by the new policy, who spoke with SaharaReporters, the development will not only affect their overall operations, especially going by the present state of Nigeria’s economy but force them to reduce the number of their employees significantly to remain in business.
“While Nigerians, who own restaurants, are to pay between N50,000 and N100,000 based on the size and volume of sales of such restaurants, we foreigners were not given such an opportunity. We have been levied N500,000 annually under what the state government described as tourism development.
“The state government forgot that in the foreign-owned restaurants, 98 per cent of the workers are Nigerians while 70 per cent are Kano State indigenes.
“Does the Kano State Government want to chase us out of the state and render a lot of youths jobless despite the high level of unemployment in the state? This is really sad,” a manager in one of the affected restaurants said.
A senior official of another affected investment, who was concerned by the new policy and gave her name only as Grace, told SaharaReporters on Thursday that the move would cause more problems than offer any economic benefit.
“The N500,000 is to be paid yearly irrespective of several taxes being paid by us. If the state continues with this outrageous levy, a lot of businesses will close down soon.
“The Kano State Government should be concerned about the well-being and standard of living of citizens, especially those earning a living from the jobs we provide. If we are grounded as a result of this new policy, it will affect a lot of families in Kano because a lot of people will become jobless.
“If the state government refuses to reverse the policy, we may have no other choice but to reduce the number of our employees. That is the only way we can remain in business with the way the government is handling this issue,” she said.
It was the same story for local restaurant and hotel operators, who have all been groaning from the weight of several obnoxious levies slammed on them by the Kano State Government in recent times.
According to them, the latest development will further affect their businesses, which were already facing low patronage as a result of the economic hardship in the country.
“If we consider all the levies and taxes government slams on us monthly and reflect that in the prices of our services, we may not have a single customer anymore.
“We have been incurring a lot of losses already; the state government must understand this and make things easier for us,” a hotel manager at a popular section of Kano metropolis, said.
When SaharaReporters called the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Taskforce on Enhancement/Enforcement of Development Levy, Babba Dan’Agundi, repeatedly, he did not answer. He had also not replied to a text sent to his mobile line as of the time of filing this report.

News

AddThis

: 

Original Author

: 

SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK

Disable advertisements

: