The Lagos State government said its monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) has increased from a monthly average of N20 billion in 2013 to N23 billion in 2014. The Chairman, Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Mr. Tunde Fowler, who spoke yesterday while addressing reporters in Lagos, reeled out the following stats which we found interesting.
- The government said it had captured no fewer than 300,000 new tax payers in its tax net in the last one year.Fowler said those who are tax compliant in Lagos state are now 4.5 million up from 3.8 million in the previous years.
- Tax payers rose from 2.7million in 2011 to 4.5million taxpayers presently; this is a significant leap and government commends residents for voluntarily and promptly paying their taxes.”
- He said: “The high months of collection are usually in April, May and June. These are the months when companies declare dividends and staff go on leave and they get their leave allowance.
- “In terms of our actual collection, we didn’t increase in IGR. In 2013 we had approximately N236 billion while in 2014 it was N276 billion. So we went from an average of N20 billion in 2013 to an average of N23 billion. And that was one of the things that have kept the state working.
- “The informal sector is yet to pay taxes and some of these people get paid for their services. And they are about three million people in the state. The objective of taxation is to distribute wealth.”
- The chairman said 626 tax defaulters were dragged to court with a total liability of N11.6 billion while 376 succeeded in obtaining a restraining order and a liability of N8.1 billion, while adding that N728 million was however recovered through court processes.
- “We filled 686 cases at the state high courts at the beginning of the year with a total liability of about N11.6 billion. Out of which 376 cases we received restrain orders on. And this amount to liability of about N8.1 billion. Of this, they have paid N771 million.