THE LEGALITY OR OTHERWISE OF PAYMENT OF PROPERTY TAX BY HOLDERS OF STATUTORY RIGHT OF OCCUPANCY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This work is centered on property tax payable by the holder of Certificate of occupancy. Our aim is to examine the Land Use Act of 1978 to ascertain if the provisions made for ground rent charge is payable by all land holders or is peculiar to those with certificate of occupancy. One of our objectives in this work is to scrutinize the relevant provisions of Land Use Charge Law which confers the state powers to collect charge on ground rent, tenement rate etc to ascertain whether it is lawful for the state to consolidate both collections conferred on the local government by the Constitution (as amended) and that of state. The methodology adopted in this work is doctrinal while the approach employed is descriptive. We utilized primary sources such as the Constitution, statutes, text books etc. and secondary sources such as the journal articles, internet etc were used. In view of the findings and conclusion, we therefore recommend the National Assembly to amend the Land Use Act particularly section 10(b) of the said Act to bring the entire land owners into tax net and not only the Holder of Certificate of Occupancy.