The Enugu State government has introduced mortuary taxes, which it said is not to generate revenue but to discourage people from taking their dead ones to mortuaries.

In a circular, the Enugu State Internal Revenue Service (ESIRS) approved the tax in line with the provisions of section 34 of the Birth, Deaths and Burials Law, Cap. 15 Revised Laws of Enugu State 2004.

“The sum of N40.00 only is to be paid by owners of a corpse once it was not buried within twenty-four hours. The amount continues to count on a daily basis,” the circular stated.

“Kindly ensure that owners of corpses make the payments before collection of the corpses for burial and then remit same to the ESIRS in any commercial bank under the mortuary tax in Enugu State IGR Account,” said the circular, which critics have faulted.

However, ESIRS’ executive chairman, Emmanuel Nnamani, explained that the tax was not new to the state, adding that it was within the Enugu State Mortuary Tax Law, which had been in existence for years.

“It is an indirect tax paid by mortuary owners, not deceased family, and it is just N40, not N40,000. Since its introduction, nobody has been denied burying their dead ones.

“It means that that corpse stays in the mortuary for 100 days, and the mortuary is expected to pay the state sum of N4,000.

“The tax is not meant to generate revenue but to discourage people from taking their dead ones to mortuary all the time,” Mr Nnamani stressed.

(NAN)