Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Mustapha
Akinkunmi, who disclosed this yesterday, at a Stakeholders’ Forum
on Taxation and Revenue Generation in Ikeja, said that the reason to
rationalize revenues for Lagos was to easy payment.
According to him, “The issue of
multiple taxes must stop in Lagos State. This is one of the issues
that residents of Lagos often complained about. The present
government is about the people and we must listen to whatever is
affecting them.
“It may also require introduction of
technologies that would be easy means of payment in the state. I
think it will be a one stop shop where we can collect taxes and later
distribute them to the agencies expected to collect the tax.
“It is confusing for many residents
whenever the need to pay taxes and levies arises. We are one, either
local or state, and residents must see ourselves as one as well,”
he added.
Akinkunmi stated that the outcome of
the meeting would determine whether there was need for any
legislative changes “which we need to bring to the House of
Assembly.”
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of
Finance, Mr. Tairu Tunde Ogunleye, lamented that over the years,
there had been a running battle between the state and local
governments on revenue generation.
He said areas of conflict had been with
the Lagos Inland Revenue Service, LIRS, Vehicles Inspection Service,
VIS, Tourism, Lottery Board, Commerce, LASAA and the Ministry of
Finance.
Ogunleye said even though the
constitution gave right of collection of levies to some level of
governments, the state and local governments had been collaborating
in the collection of certain taxes.
According to him, “Some of the areas
of collaboration are in the collection of Land Use Charge. We have
put the tenement rate collection in the Land Use Charge which we give
to them after collection. This was an agreement between us. Another
example is LASAA. We help the local government to collect this tax
and give it back to them. There is also the Wharf Landing Fees.
“This meeting will give us
opportunity to trash out areas of conflict and the way forward. The
aim is to streamline revenue collection in the state between us and
the local governments. There must be decorum; there should not be
cases where the state collect and local governments want to collect
again. We can solve the issues here once and for all.
Meantime, Growth and Employment in the
States (GEMS), an organization funded by UK Department for
International Development (DfID), has urged the state government to
setup joint revenue committee, to address frictions that often
occurred in revenue collection.
Representing the UK organization, Mr.
Daud Musa, tax adviser, said the need for a joint tax committee was
needed to urgently address the yearning of residents.
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