Maureen Edozie in Enugu
The Enugu State Government has imposed N40 daily tax on corpses in mortuaries in the state, adding that the tax was in line with the provisions of Section 34 of the Birth, Deaths and Burials Law Cap 15 Revised Laws of Enugu State 2004.
Penpushing reports that the Executive Chairman of the Enugu State Internal Revenue Service, Emmanuel Nnamani, made this known in a circular issued on September 17,2024, stressing that the sum is to be paid by owners of a corpse on daily basis once it was not buried within 24 hours.
The chairman in the circular directed the management of mortuaries to ensure that owners of corpses make the payments before collecting the corpses of their loved ones, emphasizing that the management has to remit the payments to the agency through the state’s internally generated revenue account.
Penpushing further reports Nnamani, said the tax was not new in the state arguing that the law has been in existence since 2004, adding that the tax was part of the effort of the administration to tackle the unhealthy habit by bereaved families to congest the morgues
“For the avoidance of doubt, the N40 daily (tax) imposed by Births, Deaths, and Burials Law Cap 15 Revised Laws of Enugu State 2004 was part of the effort of that administration to tackle the unhealthy habit by bereaved families to congest the morgues with their dead for many months, and even years in some instances’, the circular stated.
Penpushing also reports that the chairman of the State Internal Revenue Service explained. the state government has not increased the tax to N40,000, as being speculated in some quarters within the state and environs.
“For emphasis, although the value of N40 was much higher when the law was made in 2004, (the state) government has not deemed it necessary to raise it, Government is more interested in persuading Ndi Enugu to bury their dead ones early and take their time to prepare for the funeral instead of leaving them in the morgues’, Nnamani said
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