Lagos state House of Assembly set to pass bill that will force churches and mosque to pay tax

Lagos state House of Assembly is set to pass a bill that will ensure that religious bodies in the state, Churches and Mosque, pay tax to the state government.  The House in a bid to increase the revenue generation in the state, yesterday passed for second reading, a bill tagged “A Bill for A Law To Repeal The Land Use Charge Law 2001 and Enact Land Use Charge 2017 and For Connected Purposes” that would review that Land Use Charge in the state.

Speaker of the House, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, who presided over the plenary of the house, said the bill is all about increasing the revenue generation of the state. Obasa added that the bill when passed will ensure more consultants are employed to help in collecting the land use charges in the state.

“We need more consultants to do the job so that the entire state could be covered in the collection of land use charge. Whatever tribunal that would be set up to deal with offenders should have the support of the government. On the issue of exemptions, we cannot exempt religious organisations because most of the worship centres are making money. We could only exempt Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).”he said