In the season of waves of taxation on the already suffering Nigerian citizens, of which residents of Enugu state are not exempted, the governor has come again with yet another taxation.
The Enugu state government has yet again introduced another tax law in the State, which is aimed at levying corpses in the state, which stays beyond twenty four hours after the death of the person.
This was made known in a statement released by the state internal revenue board identified as the Enugu State Internal Revenue Service (ESIRS).
The new law is said to be in line with the already existing tax law in the state as contained in the provisions made in section 34 of the Birth, Deaths and Burials Law, Cap. 15 (as revised Laws by the state in the year 2004).
The sum to be paid is 40 Naira per day the corpse stays in the mortuary, of which mortuary owners are mandated to collect the levies from owners of deposited corpses and remitted to the government through the state internal revenue board.
“The sum of N40.00 only is to be paid by owners of a corpse once it was not buried within twenty-four hours. The amount continues to count on a daily basis“.
“Kindly ensure that owners of corpses make the payments before collection of the corpses for burial and then remit same to the ESIRS in any commercial bank under the mortuary tax in Enugu State IGR Account,” revealed in the Circular released in that regard.
The Executive Chairman of ESIRS, Emmanuel Nnamani, in a desperate attempt to calm frayed temper claimed that the tax is not new in the state, as it has been in existence for years and domiciled in the Enugu State Mortuary Tax Law.
Further, he said the law is not aimed at generating revenues for the state government, but to discourage people from taking corpses to the mortuary.
“The tax is not meant to generate revenue but to discourage people from taking their dead ones to mortuary all the time,” Mr. Nnamani stressed as he is keen on convincing people of the state to accept the new harsh tax law in the state.
In conclusion, he added, “It is an indirect tax paid by mortuary owners, not deceased family, and it is just N40, not N40,000. Since its introduction, nobody has been denied burying their dead ones.
“It means that that corpse stays in the mortuary for 100 days, and the mortuary is expected to pay the state sum of N4,000“.
REACTIONS FROM PEOPLE:
“The dead can’t even rest in peace any longer in Nigeria, talk more of the living,” X user wrote.
“Even in death, you cannot escape IGR in Enugu state,” Agbalaka @CoBender wrote on X.
“Even the dead are not spared from paying taxes in Nigeria,” Hon Dino @DwizardKing.
“Taxing both the living and the dead. Interesting,” FemEluaka @femeluaka1.
“Anyone that buy his or her way into power
Will do everything possible to recover his or her investment. This is just the beginning,” Wilson Nwobo @WNwobo.
“This guy don de give Tinubu ideas,” st-judas @Boltguy4.
“Maybe they’ll soon start taxing graves,” The Taciturn @PhilipAdanu.
“I hope this is some sort of joke. I suppose it won’t turn out like the solar tax that you first denied then turned around to admit and remove it,” Obi @Obi_Wanst.
