Politics
THE Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, of Anambra State has tripled under the current government under Gov. Willie Obiano.
There has been a significant rise from mere N8.7 billion at the end of 2013 to N26 billion as at December 31, 2019.
This was unveiled by the Chairman of the Anambra State Internal Revenue Service, AIRS, David Nzekwu.
Nzekwu said this during, “Meet The Media’’, an interactive platform created by the Media Group of the Governor to evaluate the performance of the Government of the day.
According to Nzekwu, Anambra ought to be among the high earning states from IGR from markets, but a lot of people and businesses, which ordinarily should be contributing into this have not been captured in the tax system.
“It has been worsened by irregularities in the sector, which has diminished revenue collection and promoted diversion of IGR to individual pockets by so called revenue agents.
“But with the coming of Gov. Obiano’s administration and the ongoing digitisation of the tax system, many of the irregularities are being curbed.’’
Anambra has 63 major markets and numerous mini markets spread around the state.
“We have begun to bring into the tax system all, particularly those bussiness in the informal sector that formed the bulk of businesses that our people are engaged in,’’ he said.
“We have also captured more through the floating of the Anambra State Social Service Identification, ANSSID, numbering platform to Ndi Anambra to facilitate their active participation in meeting their civic responsibilities in payment of taxes.
“So far, the internal revenue service has registered not less than 40,000 businesses and enrolled no fewer than 300,000 people, up from mere 2,100 that it was in the past.
“Currently our revenue projection from the registration, is estimated at N15 billion annually.
“In addition, Anambra launched the state revenue stamp in November 2019. This has given a boost to stamp duty tax in the state and generates about N20m monthly,’’ Nzekwu declared.
“We plan to also deploy the land Information Management System for proper identification and profiling of properties so we can improve on property tax.
“Amazingly, 64 revenue heads have already been identified in land resources management alone,’’ he said.
All these efforts had led to the increase in the state’s IGR from N8.7bn in 2013 to N17bn in 2018. The state’s IGR closed at N26bn in 2019 and the AIRS is targeting N30bn in 2020.
“The efforts at plugging all the loopholes in revenue collection in Anambra state are continuing exercise. The AIRS under Gov. Obiano has digitized tax payments in Anambra, but we are still going after ghost and fake revenue collectors.’’
According to Nzekwu, the AIRS is working closely with the Ministry of Justice in working to proffer lasting solutions to the menace.
He also said that the AIRS would also embark on massive tax education to enlighten the citizens on the need to pay their taxes effectively and consistently for continued development of the state.
“We are making good progress and the future of revenue in Anambra state is bright. But we have come a long way in doing the wrong things and so, it will definitely take some time to correct the problems,’’ he added.
– Sept. 12, 2020 @ 10:25 GMT |
Tags: Anambra IGR triples under Gov. Obiano – Official
