{"id":17264,"date":"2019-04-26T07:50:04","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T07:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=17264"},"modified":"2019-04-26T07:50:04","modified_gmt":"2019-04-26T07:50:04","slug":"firs-records-lopsided-tax-base-as-lagos-contributes-70-of-nigerias-tax-revenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=17264","title":{"rendered":"FIRS records lopsided tax base as Lagos contributes 70% of Nigeria\u2019s tax revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By <strong>Fakoyejo Olalekan<\/strong> (<strong>www.nairametrics.com<\/strong>)<br \/>\nThe\u00a0Society of Women in Taxation\u00a0(SWIT) has revealed that\u00a0Lagos State contributed\u00a070 percent of the N5.2 trillion taxes collected by the\u00a0Federal Inland Revenue Service\u00a0(FIRS) in 2018.<br \/>\nThe tax group said the revelation is disheartening and worrisome.\u00a0SWIT\u00a0stated that the difference in taxation shows there is a\u00a0lopsidedness in States\u2019 contribution in Nigeria\u00a0and this is not good for the country\u2019s economy.<br \/>\nIt was revealed during this year\u2019s edition of\u00a0 the\u00a0SWIT Seminar, which forms part of the yearly tax conference of the\u00a0Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria\u00a0(CITN), that the gap in tax collection across States shows that the long four-year tax reforms and campaign doesn\u2019t have any impact in other States.<br \/>\nThe Pioneer Chairperson of\u00a0SWIT, Justina Okoro, was bothered by the contribution of other States which was estimated at 30 percent of the total tax collection by the tax regulators.<br \/>\n<strong>Solution to the unbalanced tax base<\/strong><br \/>\nAccording to Okoro,\u00a0there is a need to expand tax collections into the interior parts of Nigeria if the\u00a0number of people in the tax pool is to increase and the\u00a0nation\u2019s tax base is to expand.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cFOR INSTANCE, OUT OF THE TRILLIONS OF NAIRA GENERATED BY THE FEDERAL INLAND REVENUE SERVICE (FIRS), 70 PER CENT CAME FROM LAGOS, WHICH MEANS THAT 35 STATES PLUS FCT CONTRIBUTED ONLY 30 PER CENT.<br \/>\n\u201cTHAT ALSO MEANS THAT THERE ARE SO MANY STATES WITH NEARLY NO PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES HAPPENING, AND BY IMPLICATION ARE NOT PAYING TAX. IF LAGOS DECIDES TO BECOME A SOVEREIGN STATE, NIGERIA WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GENERATE ANY REVENUE FROM TAX.<br \/>\n\u201cGOVERNMENT MUST TAKE SERIOUSLY TAX REVENUE GENERATION JUST LIKE WHAT IS BEING DONE WITH CRUDE OIL. THEY SHOULD GO INTO THESE PLACES WITH NATURAL RESOURCES AND MAKE IT ANOTHER REVENUE BASE.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Okoro said the cities are the only ones living up to their tax commitment, while\u00a0suburbs and local councils are lagging behind. She is of the opinion that Government is losing tax in states mining gold, diamond, and other natural resources.<br \/>\nGet the scoops and market intelligence that<br \/>\ncan help you make better investment<br \/>\ndecisions right in your mailbox.<br \/>\n<strong>There is a need for the FG and State Governments to partner<\/strong>:\u00a0To ensure seamless and hitch free tax collection, Okoro said the Federal Government and the Governors in each state need to collaborate to weigh methods that can make these states viable and attractive to investors who will create more productive\u00a0activities that would increase the tax base and revenue collection.<br \/>\n<strong>SWIT criticises FG\u2019s increasing borrowing<\/strong><br \/>\nMeanwhile, the Federal Government\u2019s increased borrowings have not gone without notice by the\u00a0SWIT\u00a0members. The tax group\u2019s\u00a0incoming National Chairperson, Kudiirat Abdulhamid, wonder why the Government would ignore revenue generation opportunities and opt for credit facility.<br \/>\nAbdulhamid argued that debt increase will tie Nigeria\u2019s resources\u00a0to payment and servicing of loans. In her view, taxation is more profitable and bankable when they are used for developmental projects that will benefit Nigerians.<br \/>\nShe said if the nation\u2019s taxes are used\u00a0judiciously, Nigerians will be eager to continue paying tax because the Government has provided\u00a0basic amenities. However, when these infrastructures are not available, citizens won\u2019t be encouraged to perform their tax obligation.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI AGREE WITH PEOPLE COMPLAINING OVER GOVERNMENT BORROWING, BUT IF CITIZENS PAY TAXES AND IT IS JUDICIOUSLY UTILISED FOR PROVISION OF THIS SERVICES, PEOPLE WILL BE EAGER TO PAY MORE.<br \/>\n\u201cBUT WHEN GOVERNMENT BORROWS MONEY WITHOUT PROVIDING INFRASTRUCTURES, CITIZENS WOULD BECOME ANGRY.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Fakoyejo Olalekan (www.nairametrics.com) The\u00a0Society of Women in Taxation\u00a0(SWIT) has revealed that\u00a0Lagos State contributed\u00a070 percent of the N5.2 trillion taxes collected by the\u00a0Federal Inland Revenue Service\u00a0(FIRS) in 2018. The tax group said the revelation is disheartening and worrisome.\u00a0SWIT\u00a0stated that the difference in taxation shows there is a\u00a0lopsidedness in States\u2019 contribution in Nigeria\u00a0and this is not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":14404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}