LIRS takes tax campaign to schools

Fowler, at the inauguration of the fourth edition of the state Internal Revenue Service Secondary School Essay Competition on Taxation on Monday, reiterated that free education in the state could only be achieved if people were committed to paying their taxes.

He noted that it was through taxes that governments would be able to provide free education to all without difficulties.

According to him, the essence of the competition is to teach pupils the importance of taxation and the need for them to cultivate the habit of paying when they become adults and future leaders.

He said, "I believe Lagos State has greatly improved and to continue that momentum we need to start educating our leaders of tomorrow on taxation so that when we pass away, the leaders of tomorrow who are still in the secondary schools can now take over.

"For our children to enjoy free education offered by Lagos State, parents have to pay tax because we still have a lot of parents and guardians who send not one but five to six children to schools without paying taxes. Poverty cannot be eradicated when people don’t pay taxes.

"To promote good standard of living, put structures in place, build infrastructure and make our educational system what it should be, people should honestly pay their taxes to enable government to achieve results that would be of benefit to our youths.

The competition, which has started with 300 schools participating both from junior and senior secondary schools, gives pupils the opportunity to prove their ability in writing.

He added that 70 per cent of the participating schools were from public schools, while the remaining 30 per cent were from private schools.

After the writing exercise, six winners are expected to emerge for prizes, three from the junior secondary school and three from the senior secondary school as well.

Fowler said, "From the management of the Lagos Internal Revenue Service, the first winner will go home with N250,000, second winner, N200, 000 and the third winner, 150,000. Scholarship and full computer systems will be awarded to schools that perform excellently well."