The Bayelsa State Government has said that the recently introduced Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) was in line with the nation’s income tax laws.

Special Assistant to the Bayelsa Governor on Treasury and Revenue, Mr Timprie Seipulan, made the statement in Yenagoa last Sunday in an interview with newsmen.

He said that contrary to reports that the new tax regime placed heavy burden on civil servants, it had in-built relief for low-income earners.

‘’I can tell you that the new tax law is indeed, friendly to civil servants, especially those from levels one to nine, they now pay less tax, we did not increase taxes, we simply complied with the PITA 2011, which is for the entire country.

‘’The Federal Government made the laws and we complied with it, it is actually meant to lessen the tax burden on low income earners while the high income earners pay more taxes,’’ he said.

The State Government last month, began the implementation of the new tax regime under the Personal Income Tax Act, 2011.

He noted that the policy was not targeted at civil servants or any particular group but that the government was concerned that people in Bayelsa should be taxed according to the existing legislation.

He expressed regret that people were taxed arbitrarily in the state in the past while several leakages in the tax system deprived the State Government of internally generated revenue from taxation.

‘’We are currently working on blocking all these leakages, depriving the state of the revenue it badly needs for development purposes.

‘’Efforts are ongoing to review all laws that encourage multiplicity of taxes, we are going to harmonise the revenue system to ensure that there is no duplication and the tax process is made simple to comply with.