By Folake BALOGUN

NEARLY 2,000 women plying their trade in two markets in the Mushin and Oyingbo areas of Lagos state, Nigeria’s commercial capital, are subjected to taxes. Still, many say there is nothing to show for the payments to the government.

Findings show that the traders pay an average of N10,500 per head in taxes to the state government, amounting to N252 million yearly.

Despite their significant contribution to the informal sector and their role as Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) driving economic growth, many women are subjected to multiple taxations, while the government fails to take care of infrastructural facilities that would enhance their business viability.

During a visit to Mushin Market on a sunny afternoon, the bustling activity there revealed the extent of transactions between buyers, sellers, union workers, louts, drivers, and load carriers.

Everyone was striving to make a living, directly or indirectly, with the deplorable state of the roads and other infrastructures putting on stark display the challenges facing the traders.

The traders have to cough up money from their meagre earnings to pay taxes and other levies imposed on them.

A food provision seller in the Mushin market, Folasade Ishola, said the value of every tax and levy collected or paid annually has not translated to any tangible benefits for her.

“I pay N10,500 per year for owning a shop in this market. The government is doing things but I have not seen it. We pay for development levy, LAWMA which is a government agency that gives the bill,” she stated.

Another provision seller in the same market, who pleaded anonymity said, “I pay N10,500 yearly as tax and I have not seen any benefit from the government but I am paying because if I don’t pay, they will lock my shop. I pay to sell provisions in the market which they ask us to pay and that is about N3,000.”

Also at Mushin Market, Iyabo Adesina, a hairdresser in the market said she paid N10,500 last year for a tax certificate.

“I pay N8,000 to the local government per year but I have not seen anything the government has done in this market,” Amaka Goodluck, a provision store owner in the market said.

A jewellry seller, Eyiwunmi Adewunmi, said, “I pay any amount the government brings to pay but the last amount I paid was when those in the tax office came to the market and I went to their office too. The government only brings buses for refuse which we pay for; so that is the only benefit I see from them.”

During the investigation, information gathered by respondents reveals that some pay N10,500, N11,200, N12,500, and some N35,000 as tax, which is the disparity of tax payments in the Mushin market.

A hair seller in Mushin market, Mercy Ebere, said, “The tax I pay is N10,000 to Iya oloja and I pay N5,500 for ‘lock-up shop’ which is paid to the local government.

“I have not seen any infrastructure in this market and all the money they are collecting, they are not using it to do anything for us,” Ebere said.

There were bad roads, a lack of clean water in the toilets despite the payment of taxes by these market traders.

“Sellers in the Mushin market pay to the Federal Inland Revenue Service which is remitted to the government. The market collects money for LAWMA, development levy which is the major amounted for each shop to pay to the leaders of the market, local government staffs also collect money from the sellers,” said Tawakalitu Opogbenro, a representative of the women leader known as ‘Iyaoloja’ in Mushin said.

She said the government can call for representatives of the market to come for a program and the amount spent for transportation for the representative is removed from the development level.

Citing the development done in the Mushin market, she said “Only politicians have been doing things such as the road repaired in Mumuni street, Mushin by Adeyemi Alli, member house of representative”.

“However, the Government helped develop Dadaiyalode Street in Mushin, Abiodun street” she said, while urging the Nigerian government to help get public toilets, public water, and other roads to help transport goods from one place to another which is a matter of concern for Mushin market at the moment.

A media executive at the Odi-olowo/Ojuwoye local government office, Mushin, Adekunle Oluwatosin, said that people pay taxes to the local government such as ‘Lock up shops’, which is received from market traders, companies in Ilupeju, Fadeyi, and others within the jurisdiction of the Local Government.

He said the local government through the chairman, Rasak Ajala,  has been involved in three months of skills acquisition for people which is based on ICT, Corel Draw, Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator amongst others.

“Bursary is also given to every resident of Odi-olowo/Ojuwoye local council development area with a good academic record, he gives free GCE forms, renovates some abandoned public schools such as one in ikeolu – Odiolowo primary school,” he said.

For Oyingbo, a metropolitan city in the Ebute Metta area of Lagos state, Sekinat Eletu, a shop attendant who sells cutleries told our reporter that a woman-owned shop in Oyingbo Market is expected to pay N18,000 as tax to the market authorities which is referred to as ‘woman leader’.

“Last week, they came to our shop requesting for N18,000 but my boss said she does not have it. I am not sure it is from the government, it is from the woman leader of the market,” she said.

“We were told to pay through the bank to a First Bank account. I don’t know the owner of the account but we were told to be paying there and they will be seeing it,” Eletu stated while adding that women in the market negotiate to pay.

Ireti Adeyemi, who sells scarves at Oyingbo market, said. “We pay tax but there is no specific amount. Even people that are hawking, they cut tickets for them.”

The reporter asked if the money paid by the traders gets to the government, she said, “Everybody is their own government before the government so they know how to settle themselves.”

“Market traders pay above N10,000 which is paid to Government representatives allocated to collect tax, however we have not seen what the government has done,” said Bilikisu Balogun, a representative of the Woman Leader of Oyingbo market said.

“We do not have electricity in this market, it is a generator we use and we contribute to buy it. We used to have light but for about three years there was no PHCN light in this Oyingbo market.

She urged the government to provide water for the market because market traders buy water to use in the constructed toilet, and the drainage system  should be done by the government.

“This issue emphasises the overarching concern with the gender blindness of the Nigerian tax system (laws, policies and administrative processes) and that of its subnational units and more specifically its lack of acknowledgement of the unpaid care responsibilities of women in the informal sector,” Munachi Ugochukwu, economic and gender justice lead at Governance and Rights programme, Christian Aid (UK) Nigeria, said.

He pointed out that the informal sector provides livelihoods for about 80 per cent of the Nigerian labour force and 82 percent of women operate in the sector.

“It is unfair and unequitable for the presumptive tax laws, which govern business operators in the informal economy, to assess and impose flat tax rates across all genders within similar informal business categories regardless of the disparities in income, consumption expenditure and women’s responsibility of unpaid care,” he said.

At the policy level, there is a lack of emphasis and political commitment towards acknowledging gendered concerns and making gender-specific infrastructural provisions, according to Ugochukwu.

“Taxation and governance are two sides of the same coin. And the government’s best way to address tax compliance issues is firstly by demonstrating accountability for the taxes paid,” he said.

He said these could be achieved through tax for service agreements, which he described as “a veritable tool for promoting equity, transparency, accountability and citizens’ participation in governance”.

“Tax for service agreements hold the potential to promote social contracts and equity in resource allocation, improve access to service delivery and build public trust in the system leading to tax compliance and increased tax revenues,” Ugochukwu said.

He said it would serve the best interests of the Lagos state government to work with market association leaderships to facilitate a market consensus around identifying priority projects in the markets, and allocating a percentage of their tax payments to the provision of the identified projects.

“Efforts should also be made by CSOs to engage these constituencies towards building their knowledge and capacities to advocate for such arrangements and by the media to amplify the instrumentality and benefits of the same,” he said.

The director of the Informal Sector and Special Duties at Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Folasade Coker, said in an interview that the majority of people in the informal sector do not know how to calculate the percentage they pay as tax.

“To bring the people in the informal sector to the tax net, the government decided to charge them a token of N8,100 per annum and it can be paid installmentally to make it convenient for them and a receipt will be issued for any payments made,” she said.

While speaking about how to leverage trade unions and associations to ease the tax collection job, Coker said, “We have been able to leverage on these associations to make our work easier. The heads of these markets are also working with us to ensure we reach out to as many who are willing and ready to pay their taxes like Iya Oloja, Igbo Traders Association, and as the cooperation strengthens, things will improve.”

Women, especially those in the informal sector, are said to often bear the brunt of the problem of taxes due to the ignorance of their tax obligations and the amount expected to be paid.

Women, who make up most of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises have a major challenge of multiple taxation.

A report by PwC Nigeria shows that women account for 41 per cent ownership of micro-businesses in Nigeria, with 23 million female entrepreneurs operating within this segment.

Market women who have families, despite their impact on the Nigerian economy, are adversely affected and are being crippled by multiple taxes.

Globally, the major source of funds to run government organs effectively has always been through revenue generated directly or indirectly through taxes.

Tax itself is a compulsory (which makes its evasion punishable) contribution to state revenue and is levied by the government on salary, business profits, transactions and even on services.

The Federal Inland Revenue Service in a document, highlighted company tax and Value Added Tax (VAT) as some of the eight taxes collected by the Federal Government, while the state and local governments collect 11 and other 20 taxes respectively.

Research carried out by the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria on why these taxes exist, the root of multiple taxations was linked to greed, perceived unfair revenue formula and the quest to boost internally generated revenue of states and local councils.

The chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily recently, the numerous taxes levied at various government levels are making life difficult for Nigerians.

“We do not understand why we have so many taxes in Nigeria, just creating problems for everyone,” he said.

According to Oyedele, taxing rights at all levels of government need to be properly defined and addressed to the roots, starting with the country’s constitution.

“We want to go into the constitution itself and address the problem from the roots. Let’s put it there and let it be clear. Clearly define the taxing rights at the different levels of government—this should be what you can collect—from local government to state to federal and here are your responsibilities,” he said.

This report republished from Business Day was made possible with support from the International Budget Partnership (IBP) and the International Centre for Investigative reporting (ICIR) under the Tax Justice, Equity and Transparency Project.  Read other stories HERE.