By Tony Okafor, Awka
Seven persons cheated death on Thursday in Agulu, in the Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State.
They were involved in an auto crash at Nwagu Agulu, where they sustained varying degrees of injury.
The accident involved a shuttle bus heading to Ekwuluobia with the seven passengers on board.
The accident was reportedly caused by a team of revenue agents described as SEBEIGBO.
According to an eyewitness, the driver of the bus was fleeing from the revenue agents when he suddenly lost control after one of the agents threw a heavy stone on him, resulting to the somersaulting of the vehicle.
The eyewitness said, “The bus was one of those sebeigbo revenue team invaded at Nwagu Junction Agulu.
“While they were pursuing the bus, one of the touts threw a heavy stone on the driver. He suddenly lost control of the bus and it veered off the road and somersaulted.
“All the passengers on board were left with different degrees of injuries while the driver is in a critical condition.”
Reacting to the development, the Transition Committee Chairman of Anaocha Local Government Area, Gerald Ozoh said the levy collectors were illegal agents.
Ozoh who visited the crash scene said Prof Chukwuma Soludo’s government was not in support of any form of illegal revenue collection, urging residents to join government in stopping the act.
He announced temporary ban on collection of all forms of revenue within the council until proper investigation conducted to ascertain the real revenue agents of government.
While revealing that one person has been arrested in connection with the crash, Ozoh charged motorists plying the area to be law abiding and report activities of any revenue agent within the council to his office.
“An investigation is being carried out by the police in the council area to identify those involved in the act that led to the accident,” the LG boss said.
However, some fruit sellers at Nwagu junction called the levy collectors “Sebeigbo” agents, a street derogatory name for all the revenue agents engaged by the Anambra State governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo on assumption of office.
” They come here everyday to harass everybody. Accidents occur here everyday, only that today’s is the highest.
“The state government should know what do about this. The taxes in the state are getting to much.
“Making it easier to pay taxes improves competitiveness. Overly complicated tax systems are associated with high levels of tax evasion, large informal sectors, more corruption, and less investment.
Modern tax systems should seek to optimize tax collections while minimizing the burden on taxpayers to comply with tax laws.
“There is a need to ensure that the tax system is fair and equitable. Governments need to balance goals such as increased revenue mobilization, sustainable growth, and reduced compliance costs with ensuring that the tax system is fair and equitable.
” Fairness considerations include the relative taxation of the poor and the rich; corporate and individual taxpayers; cities and rural areas; formal and informal sectors, labour and investment income; and the older and the younger generations”.
