Tomato/onion dealers lament multiple taxation in Imo

Dealers of tomato and onion at the Relief Market, Owerri, Imo State, have decried what they described as multiple taxation imposed on them by government officials.
Alhaji Haliru Muhammad, the chairman of Onions Dealers Association and the Secretary of Palm Produce Dealers Association, Alhaji Muhammed  Chacho, made the position of the dealers known to Daily Trust in Owerri.
They said that a situation where different tax officials used to collect money from them was not healthy for business development.
Muhammad urged government to streamline tax administration, saying that in the past, tax officials used to collects N5,000 from them, not the present N9,000 paid on each truck.
Such a situation, he said, was not obtainable in the neighbouring states.
He said that prices of onions in the market have crashed from N37,000 to N11,000 per bag while a basket which used to be sold at N12,000 is today sold at N3,000.
He said that a small size bag of onion which before now was sold at N7,000 is now sold at between N5,000 and N6,000.
While commending the state government for giving Hausa traders 50 shops, he urged for more because of the number of traders in the market.
On his part, the secretary, Palm Produce Dealers Association, Muhammed Chacho, who said that prices of tomato ought not to be going down because it was off-season, blamed the present upsurge in price to multiple taxation in the state and high cost of transportation.
He said that other areas like Lokoja, Asaba, Anambra and Benin used to collect tax of between N5, 000 and N7, 000 from each truck carrying goods.
He said that effort made to complain to the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Army, police and DSS have proved fruitless as the situation continued unabated.