The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) has proposed taxing of unoccupied properties as part of measures to curb the rising trend across major cities in the country.
President and Chairman of Council of NIESV, ESV Victor A. Alonge, made the disclosure in Abuja on Monday at the annual Valuation Day Celebration with the theme ‘Tax Reform for National Economic Prosperity: Why Valuation Matters’.
According to him, “Rising cases of completed and furnished properties in Abuja have become a source of concern for stakeholders, even the government, but not much has been done to curb that because owning and maintaining one’s property is part of his/her fundamental human rights.
“But we at NIESV believe that when the government begins to tax unoccupied buildings, the trend will reduce because the higher the number of houses you have the higher the tax, so it will discourage people from building these houses and leaving them unoccupied,” he explained.
He added that the theme of the conference is critical as it comes at the time the government is churning out policies to re-engineer the nation’s challenged economy, one of which is tax reforms.
On addressing quackery in the sector, the president stated that estate surveyors and valuers are responsible for the determination of the economic worth of assets in all ramifications and the only professionals empowered by training and law to value and fix monetary value on assets, adding that “It is wrong and illegal to give valuation jobs to non-estate surveying and valuation firms.”
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