The Ebonyi Government on Monday suspended the collection of consolidated revenue, income tax and property rates in the state until further notice.

Gov. David Umahi, who announced this in Abakaliki during a Town Hall meeting with stakeholders on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), said the suspension was to enable harmonisation and address grey issues of multiple taxation being collected by illegal tax collectors.

Umahi also ordered that all collections of revenue in arrears should stop and noted that the government would not allow the oppression of anybody.

“All income tax are hereby suspended until further notice. We will advocate for an operation to catch them.

“No collection of tax from market women without shops in the market and anyone culpable will be sentenced to five years in prison,” Umahi said.

The governor also suspended the collection of tax and revenue from hawkers and abolished revenue collection across the local government areas and all activities of revenue contractors.

He also approved N150 million grants for market women without shops in the state capital and urged each local government council in the state to assist petty traders.

He noted that henceforth all revenue collectors in the state would appear in their uniforms for easy identification.

Umahi directed the Deputy Governor, Kelechi Igwe, to set up a committee on revenue to hold a meeting with market women, traders, council chairmen, traditional rulers and other stakeholders to come up with an acceptable revenue they were to pay.

The governor, however, ordered the commissioner for lands and survey to moderate house rents in the state.