Ogun State Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says it has generated a total of N11.804bn as revenue into the State Government coffers, between January and March this year, representing 83.86 percent of N14.076bn expected for the period under review.
The IRS Chairman, Mr. Olugbenga Olaleye, represented by a board member and Special Adviser to the Governor on Corporate Development and Legal Services, Hon. Biodun Adeleye disclosed this while presenting the Agency’s 2022 budget performance for the first quarter before members of the State House of Assembly Committee on Finance and Appropriation led by the Chairman, Hon. Kunle Sobukanla at the Assembly Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
Olaleye explained that the total amount generated was 129 percent higher than N9.143bn raked in for the same period as of March 2021, noting that the figure excluded N4.7bn expected from tax audit for the period.
Adjudging the performance as the best in the last three years despite the COVID-19 challenges and downturn in the global economy, Mr. Olaleye stated that plans had been intensified to shore up revenue through the replacement of 17 percent average Personal Income Tax (PIT), with a flat rate of 0.5 percent on corporate land transaction value to encourage ease of doing business and attract more potential investors.
He gave a breakdown of the revenue generated to include, Personal and withholding taxes, stamp duty, road taxes and direct assessment, among others.
Olaleye assured that the agency would perform more in the remaining months of the year as plans were on ground to explore other avenues such as the opening of additional road taxes outlets, more enforcement drive on tax defaulters, deployment of technology, and allocation of outstanding tax audit among others.
Speaking, the Chairman, Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Hon. Sobukonla while appreciating the agency’s drive to generate revenue urged them to do more in the coming months.
The lawmakers also appraised the budget performance of the State Ministry of Budget and Planning, as well as the Bureau of Public Procurement and Statistics.