*Say wealthy elites dodge tax payment
*JTB targets 10m new taxpayers by December
Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has canvassed
a review of the sharing formula of revenues accruing to the federation account
through non-oil taxes including Value Added Tax (VAT).
"The non-oil revenue sharing formula currently in use
is obsolete. As at the time it was done 20 years ago, Ogun State, for instance
was way back because of the number of industries we had then. Today, Ogun State
is the industrial capital of Nigeria. The sharing formula should reflect this
new reality.
This is derivation in another form," Governor Amosun
stated on Monday while playing host to the management of the Joint Tax Board
who had come on a courtesy visit to his Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta office.
While addressing the JTB management team led by Babatunde
Fowler, Chairman JTB and Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS,
Governor Amosun said, “It is a good thing that for the first time in the life
of this administration, non-oil receipt accounted for over 70 percent of the
fund shared at the last FAAC. It is a commendable and a welcome development
because it signifies a major shift in focus from oil to non-oil revenue.
"But in the same token, I think it is very expedient to
ask that we cast a second look at the formula we use in sharing the proceed
from these non-oil revenue.
"If we make a lot of money from industries, we should
also remember that these companies reside in a state and they put enormous
pressure on the environment and the roads in those states. Those various state
governments carry the can and pick the bill for cleaning the environment. It is
therefore only good for the management of RMFAC to give more back to those
states hosting these companies.”
The Ogun State governor also seized the opportunity to
challenge the management of the Joint Tax Board (JTB), which includes chairmen
of 36 states Internal Revenue Services, representatives of the Revenue
Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC), the Nigerian Customs
Service and the Immigration Service, to “device creative strategies” for
ensuring that more wealthy Nigerians are brought into the national tax bracket.
“The rich and wealthy don't pay taxes and even when they do,
they underpay. They make a lot of money but don’t pay anything or don’t pay the
requisite tax. We all go to other advanced nations and see that these wealthy
people don't escape the way they do here. So the challenge for the JTB is to
correct this. You must think out of the box to achieve this,” Governor Amosun
said.
Speaking earlier, Fowler said the JTB management team was in
Abeokuta for the 135th meeting of the group.
Fowler praised “the excellent performance” recorded by the
Ogun State government in its Internal Revenue drive. He revealed that the state
came first in 2015 as it grew it’s internal revenue base by 50 percent.
The JTB boss also announced that non-oil receipt accounted
for over 70 percent of the over N500bn shared at the last FAAC meeting.
The Ogun State governor later attended the opening ceremony of the 135th Meeting of the Joint Tax Board where he enjoined the JTB management to increase their non-oil revenue drive.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Fowler explained that the
meeting was to ensure uniformity of taxation and compare notes in tax
administration across the various states of the federation.
He lamented that 33 states of the federation currently rely
on federal allocation to fund their budget, saying the goal of the meeting was
also to bring other states to a level where they are able to generate at least
50 percent of their budget internally.
The JTB boss noted that only 10 percent of taxable adults
are currently being taxed in Nigeria. Fowler however revealed that the JTB
targets 10 million new taxpayers before the end of 2016.
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