Benue to crack down on illegal levy collection on highways

The Benue Internal Revenue Service (BIRS) says it has concluded plans to harmonise all locally approved levies collected on the state’s highways. 

Speaking to NAN on Sunday, Jacinta Bernard, media assistant to BIRS chairman, said the board does not collect presumptive taxes on the roads.

Bernard said even cars that often conveyed passengers were not taxed because haulage was the tax paid by cargo vehicles.

She added that no staff of the board was permitted to demand or harass any motorist, private or commercial, for any type of revenue while on the road.

“Cars that take passengers do not pay haulage fees; they pay presumptive tax of N200 for smaller vehicles and N500 for buses, and this is usually collected at the park, not on the road,” she said.

Also speaking on the development, Maureen Igyor, a legal practitioner, said the only authorised body saddled with the responsibility of collecting levies from motorists in the state was the BIRS.

Igyor said it was illegal for anyone other than an agent of the service to collect levies, adding that BIRS had their payment points and would never mount roadblocks for revenue collection.

“All those mounting roadblocks, obstructing the free flow of traffic and causing accidents are engaging in illegal activities because the government is not aware of such deployments,” she said.

“Those people are unauthorised revenue officials and do not remit payments to government coffers because BIRS does not collect levies through crooked methods. ”

She also asked that government officials and security agents check the points where such illegal operations were taking place, to end the harassment of road users.

On his part, Sunday Okpale, a lawyer, said that asking owners of private space buses to pay haulage was not just illegal, but a violation of the rights of the owners.

“It is illegal to demand documents meant for commercial vehicles from those using their vehicles for private purposes because the officials should know they do not have such documents,” Okpale said.

“Most of these officials who mount roadblocks are criminals and do not remit these monies forcefully collected from vehicle owners to the government.

“These monies are collected for personal use, and that is why they delay, harass and even rough handle private vehicle owners if they refuse to pay them.”

Providing possible solutions, Samuel Gwott, general manager, Plateau Express Service, said the state government had banned unauthorised revenue points on the highways.

Gwott advised private car owners to acquaint themselves with the extant laws guiding the operations of all legal authorities manning highways.