11th May, 2017
Proprietors of private schools in Benue on Thursday took their protest against heavy taxes to the State House of Assembly.
Led by their Chairperson, Mrs. Tabitha Salaudeen, the proprietors, who held placards, called on the lawmakers to wade into the problem of multiple taxation “in the interest of quality education”.
“We were pushed to the wall to carry out a peaceful protest after writing series of letters to the Board of Internal Revenue without any positive response.
“Each private school in Benue pays a flat rate of N954,000 as annual tax; this has really affected the growth of the schools.
“We see government as partners and want to work with them to offer quality education to every Benue child, so we want the assembly to look into the high tax rate being forced on us,” she said.
The association advised government to implement a grading system of schools where schools with higher school fees would pay N100,000 annually as taxes, while schools with less tuition fees pay N40,000.
In his response, the Speaker, Mr Terkimbi Ikyange, promised to look into the high tax rates, noting that the high figures had become a source of concern for stakeholders in the education sector.
“We shall adopt measures to regulate the taxes so that the schools will have breathing spaces and be able to offer quality education,” he said.
He, however, tasked the proprietors to work toward improved standards, and threatened that substandard private schools would be scrapped.
“We want schools that can compete with other schools around the globe and not mushroom schools where teachers are not even qualified to teach,” he said.