Monrovia – Scores of business owners in Paynesville have threatened to sue the municipality of the city for high fees it charges for the collection of municipal and garbage taxes
The business owners have additionally asked the General Auditing Commission (GAC) and the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) to audit the PCC and ensure the city government accounts for money it has continued to collect in taxes over the years.
However, the PCC said it had done no harm, as the taxes were meant to keep the municipality running amid low budgetary allotment, and that there were no plans to have the taxes reduced.
FrontPage Africa has a document issued by the PCC’s commercial department to the Fahnbulleh Gas Station in Paynesville for 2016 tax year that indicates a US$80 municipal and US$30 garbage taxes while another one issued to the Keita Trading Center also for the period of 2016 bears US$225 municipal tax only.
Also in the possession of FrontPage Africa is a municipal tax receipt, issued 2015 by the Ministry of Finance through the Central Bank Collectorate to the same Fahnbulleh Gas Station in the amount of L$2,000.
Businessman Boakai Fahnbulleh, owner of the Fahnbulleh Gas Station, who is the spokesperson for the aggrieved business owners of Paynesville, told FrontPageAfrica over the weekend that at first business owners in Paynesville were paying the amount of LD$6,000 to central government as municipal tax but the government decided to reduce the amount to L$2,000 taking into account the crumpling economy.
Businessman Fahnbulleh speaking on behalf of his colleagues said if the central government could allow business owners to pay this little amount because of the crumpling economy then why the PCC could not follow suit.
“We are not saying that we don’t want to pay taxes but let it be at a minimum rate, but paying US$110.00 per year in high currency in a crumpling economy will cause us a lot of losses,” said Fahnbulleh.
Fahnbulleh also criticized the PCC for its alleged inability to cope with the huge pile of garbage in Paynesville, which he said cause environmental and health hazard for hundreds of residents and business owners.
When contacted, PCC’s Communication Director Jani Jallah told FrontPageAfrica that the entity had done no wrong in the collection of taxes to keep up the council which she said was faced with low budgetary support from national government.
“If the business owners want to sue let them go ahead because we as a corporation can sue therefore we can also be sued,” said Jallah.
Jallah continued that the taxes in question were paid in different categories and were levied in January, relaxed from March, April and May and became enforceable at the ending part of the year.
When quizzed on the PCC inability to cope with garbage collection, Jallah acknowledged the problem but claimed that garbage collection has been slow for now because it has been World Bank project but the project is to come to an end December at which time the PCC will take over.