NLC slams FG over 6% stamp duty on tenancy, lease

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned the 6 percent stamp duty fee introduced by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for every tenancy and lease agreement in Nigeria.
The NLC president, Ayuba Wabba, in a statement, said the congress read with dismay the new policy by the Federal Government, through the FIRS, stipulating the new increase.
“This new financial burden on poor Nigerians comes at a time when the socio-economic pressure arising from COVID-19 dislocations is pushing many Nigerians beyond the limits,” he said.
He stated that the NLC rejected the new stamp duty policy on rents and leases as it would worsen the deplorable situation faced by Nigerian workers most of whom, unfortunately, are tenants.
According to him, it is also alarming that Nigeria is experiencing a rash of hike in taxes and user access fees when other countries are offering palliatives to their citizens.
Wabba called on the Federal Government and the FIRS to rescind this harsh fiscal measure as it is insensitive to the material condition of Nigerians, which has been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said, “Nobody would want to be a tenant, if they had alternative. This means that tenants, which this new policy targets, are some of the most vulnerable people in our society. It would be illogical, insensitive and inhumane to churn out laws that make our poor go to bed at night with tears in their eyes.
“The principle of public taxation, especially progressive taxation all over the world, is that the rich subsidises for the poor. Every tax policy that would be enforceable must create a safety net for the poor. Recent policies of government indicate otherwise.
“Accommodation is a fundamental right guaranteed by Nigeria’s Constitution. It is unimaginable that tenants who are in the most vulnerable group would be expected to pay 6 per cent tax for accommodation when sales tax is 1.5 per cent. This is indeed a great injustice against the Nigerian poor. Government must take deliberate steps to avoid institutionalising the widespread belief that it is a crime to be poor in Nigeria.”
The labour leader said the NLC understands that government needs money to run the business of governance, especially at this time of economic challenges all over world, but the answer is not in further exploiting the already exploited.
He said there there were other painless ways of mobilising funds to deal with the exigency of the times.
One of such ways, he reasoned, was to reduce official graft and corruption, stating that it does not make sense to ask Nigerians to make sacrifices when they are daily regaled of putrid stories of how public officials swallowing money in billions and making a comic of “fainting” afterwards shamelessly.