One major responsibility of a modern government is to provide public goods to its citizens. As the needs of the citizens and the state increases consistently the government requires so much money to provide such needs to a reasonable extent. It has been argued widely among liberal economists that government, in isolation cannot generate what is needed to address societal needs. Relying on the contributory approach to social services development, government introduces taxes of different dimensions to assist in the provision of public goods. Cross River State government operates one of the modem standards of taxation in contemporary Nigeria. It is evident that over 30% of its revenue is derived from taxation. The study examines the stability of businesses under the current tax regime with emphasis on the hospitality industry and internal transportation business. The aim is to show the extent to which the tax regime amounts to multiple and outrageous taxation and its impact on these variants of businesses in Calabar. Data collected revealed that the hospitality businesses and internal transportation businesses face multiple and high rate of taxation which has impinged negatively on the stability of these businesses. The study recommends among others the amendment of the fourth schedule of the 1999 constitution to prune it of excess items which the local government uses to perpetrate multiple and excessive taxation.
Keywords: Hospitality industry, Internal Transportation, Multiple Taxation
