Amid VAT controversy, Kano Hisbah confiscates trucks loaded with beer
Kano State Hisbah Board says it has confiscated two vehicles loaded with 5,760 cartons of assorted beer on Kano/Madobi road.
This was contained in a statement issued by the spokesman of the board, Lawan Ibrahim-Fagge, in Kano on Wednesday.
The statement quoted the Commander-General of the board, Dr Harun Ibn-Sina, as saying, while inspecting the vehicles at the board’s headquarters, that they were apprehended by Hisbah officials around 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
“Hisbah board has prohibited sale of beer in the state to avoid being intoxicated,” he said.
Mr Ibn-Sina added that the board would continue to sustain the fight against drugs and other intoxicating substances among youths in the state.
The seizure comes amid ongoing controversy about the rights of states to collect VAT and other local consumption taxes as against the status quo which ensures such taxes are collected into federal coffers via Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS.
Despite ethically restrictive socio-religious policies and low economic activities in some states, particularly in the North, revenue generated from active and progressives states are shared among all states of the federation under the current arrangement.
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and many other economic analysts believe the system is abhorrent to true fiscal federalism.
The Rivers State Government obtained a favourable judgement to abolish the status quo and begin collection of VAT. Other southern states are already setting up legal frameworks to follow suit but FIRS and some northern states are making moves to thwart it.
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