By Joseph Edegbo :
The Kaduna Internal Revenue Service has mapped out what it called strategic corporate plan aimed at realizing two hundred billion Naira annually between now and 2029 to fund 60% of government expenditures from IGR
To this end, the revenue agency has begun expanding the tax payer base, multi agency collaboration, improved relationship with development partners, public and private sectors, improved technology and blocking of leakages.
The Executive Chairman of the agency, Dr. Zaid Abubakar gave this indication Friday at Kaduna Tax Summit in Zaria, organized by Tax Justice and Governance Platform in collaboration with Partnership to Engage Reform and Learn, PERL.
Dr. Abubakar who was delivering a keynote address tagged ” Tax Reform and The Journey So Far in Kaduna State, Where Are We Now, and Where Do We Want To Go?, said under the reform, collections by all the ten revenue generating agencies have been centralized and being monitored.
The centralization which also involve the billing system, is part of the tax Codification and Consolidation Law 2020 which has greatly increased government revenue generation, he said.
Dr Abubakar emphasized that under the Law, no local government council has powers to serve tax payer notice except the agency.
On her part, the Secretary and Legal Adviser to the agency, Aysha Ahmad Mohammad spoke on how the agency had been characterized by multiple legislation, taxation, leakages, arbitral assessment and wrong public perception about taxation.
These, she explained, had now been checkmated through the tax Codification and consolidation Law 2020.
Another success story about the law, she said, was Government’s ability to eliminate touts from road blocks through out the State as well as the prohibition of cash payment of government revenue
Cash collections, she emphasized, are done through bank draft, credit card, money transfer and point of sales terminal, among others, warning that under whatever guise, should government revenue be paid cash to any person, ministry, department or agency.
The warning was also a response to complaints about certain individuals harassing or approaching market or shop owners to pay revenues, levies or charges.
Earlier in a brief remark, the PERL State Team Leader, Mr. Abel Adejor had given reasons for the Summit which brought together, revenue generating agencies and the citizens with a view to explaining how revenue collected from tax payers are utilized.
By so doing, Mr Adejor explained, would reassure the confidence of service delivery reposed in government by the citizens.
The Friday session featured a panel of discussants drawn from some of the revenue generating agencies who spoke on their respective operations.
