By BENSON EZUGWU

Traders in Enugu are gnashing their teeth as the state government begins the enforcement of collection of N200 daily tax from business owners.

A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports on Thursday that tax collectors had been going round markets in the capital city and had been sealing shops of tax defaulters.

In 2023, the state government imposed a N200 daily tax on traders and hawkers and gave an option for annual, monthly or quarterly payment.

A trader at Mbanugo Motor Parts Market, Mr Ifedi Okafor, whose shop was sealed for non-compliance, told NAN that the N200 tax rate was too high.

Everybody knows that things are hard now. They are asking us to pay N5,500 monthly; it is not something that we cannot pay, but the economic situation of the country today is affecting everybody, Ifedi said.

Another motor parts dealer, Mr Chikezie Onuorah, said it was wrong of government to seal the shops of defaulters going by the current economic hardship in the country.

We are paying only because nobody wants his shop or the entire market to be sealed, he said.

A market management official in another part of Enugu told NAN that the market was unsealed on Wednesday after negotiations with government.

We settled with government amicably; some traders have been complying by going to pay the N5,500 monthly tax.

The money paid is for October to December 2023; the charge for 2024 has not started, he said. (NAN)