Government strangling hospitality sector with frivolous taxation – Hoteliers

Ebere Chibuzor

Multiple taxation, excessive consultancy levies and a host of other charges borne on hoteliers by the Government has been described as a bane to the growth of the hospitality sector in the country.

This was made known by a cross section of Hoteliers, under the South-West Hoteliers’ Association Of Nigeria, who recently described the actions of government agencies as capable of killing Nigeria’s hospitality sector, during it’s 2017 conference, held at Administrative Staff College of Nigeria in Badagry, Lagos.

They however appealed to the Federal government, to consider the employers in the sector, by revisiting the issues of multiple taxation raise, in order to resolve and harmonize the collection of taxes and levies by all revenue generating agencies of government in the state and local government areas, stating that multiple taxes could force them out of business, if an immediate solution was not provided.

While expressing the position of the Association, Prince Femi Egbodofo, Deputy Chairman of the Association, said the hoteliers are ready to pay taxes that are meaningful, sensible and very reasonable.

Egbodofo said that, “Imagine the federal government promulgated a law and said that 50 percent would be paid on food eaten in the hotel, the room occupied and same government has the audacity to say they promulgated another law on the same material which we have been paid.

In some states today, we have about 18 different taxes being paid and this thing does not stop right there”, he said.
According to him, a non-governmental agency has an arrangement through the same government to collect money from us.

He said the hospitality sector contributes greatly to the nation’s growth through job creation and called for urgent federal government intervention to enable the hotels thrive.