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THE Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, has expressed its support for the new national tax policy recently announced by the federal government. The new tax policy is to shore up Nigeria’s dwindling revenue which declined because of the fall in the price of crude oil at the international market and activities of militant and vandals in the Niger Delta which affected oil production in the country.

A statement issued on Wednesday, February 8, in Abuja, and signed by Ibrahim Mohammed, spokesperson of RMAFC, said the newly introduced revised tax policy would go a long way in boosting the nation’s revenue base for sustainable national development.

It commended the government for taken the bold and courageous decision, adding that globally, taxation was seen as the most stable source of government revenue for economic development. It also said that the upward review of the existing Value Added Tax, VAT, rate on luxury items, as contained in the New Tax Policy supports its position.

Shettima Umar Abba Gana, acting chairman of RMAFC,  had in July 2016, urged the government to increase the value added tax from 5 per cent to about 7.5 per cent to generate more revenue to fund projects.

Gana, who presented a paper titled “Expanding Nigeria’s Revenue Base: Strategies and New Sources” at a two-day national revenue retreat organised by the federal Ministry of Finance in Kano, observed that VAT was a high tax revenue yielding instrument that could be used to shore-up revenue required for financing the ever-expanding public expenditure needs of all tiers of government adding that Nigeria’s current VAT rate of five per cent was one of the lowest in the world.

—  Feb 9, 2017 @ 16:05 GMT

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