By Alltimepost.com
Governor Adams Oshiomhole has said that Edo State Government will broaden its tax net to capture the over one million taxable adults in the state.
The Governor hinted that of the state’s population of four million people, only 160,000 people presently pay tax.
He made these known while delivering a lecture on “Dwindling Revenue from Crude Oil: The Challenges for State Governments” at the maiden public lecture organized by the Correspondents Chapel of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Benin City on Wednesday.
According to him, states must deepen their tax base as an alternative to the dwindling oil revenue resulting from the crash in the price of global crude oil.
“we have decided to expand the tax net, to move it away from just salary earners that pay, ‘pay as you earn’ and few other people who volunteer to pay to extend it to consumption tax because, everywhere in the world, people pay for consumption and it is a more equitable way to tax because typically, those who earn a lot tend to consume more and therefore, should pay more taxes.”
The Governor told the audience that the new initiative would target those who evade tax, saying: “You will see a man driving a Mercedes 600, meanwhile his tax suggests that he is on level 10 because he may have benefited from a Dasuki; now, if he gets such free money, it is bad enough that this money accrued from corrupt practice, but it is worst that he spends it, consumes it without paying anything out of it.”
He emphasized the need to shift more emphasis to indirect consumption tax including value added tax, as a way of strengthening the state revenue base.
“That is why we are looking at other ways to ensure that however you make the money, if it is not captured at the level of income, it will be captured at the level of consumption when you try to spend it,” he said.
For us to survive, going forward, he continued, the state must broaden the tax net. “I believe that the taxable people in this state are up to 1 million. But a couple of things have happened over the years that we are not going to curb it overnight, no one government can curb it overnight.”
Governor Oshiomhole hoped that the next government will widen this scope of revenue base for the state to remain afloat, “because our population will continue to grow, we will need to build more schools, employ more teachers, and provide more laboratory equipment. We will need to sustain our urban renewal program, we will need to sustain the fight against erosions in our cities, all of these require huge financial output.”
He warned of grave consequences if the state shies away from drastic action like this to widen non-oil based revenue accruing to Edo State as it will get to a level where the payment of basic services including salaries will be a huge burden.
“I have done my thinking, I have done my plans, up till the end of my tenure, I will never join the club of states that cannot pay salaries,” he vowed.
Also speaking, a two-time governor of the defunct Mid-West Region and Bendel State, Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, commended the Correspondents Chapel for organizing the lecture and called for support for Governor Adams Oshiomhole to enable him identify the right man who will take Edo to the next level.
He described Oshiomhole as a man “who is a square peg in a square hole; a man who is wearing the proverbial shoes and knows exactly where it pinched yesterday, is pinching today and is likely to pinch tomorrow. A man who has the courage to call a pot black even in the presence of the catering master.”
The Chairman of the Correspondents Chapel of the NUJ, Mr. Simon Ebegbulem said the lecture was timely because “the nation is facing serious economic challenges from our monolithic economy which has put severe burden on state governments which have for long depended on the Federal Government’s allocations before paying salaries and discharging other governmental responsibilities.”
The public lecture, chaired by His Royal Highness Prof Gregory Akenzua, the Enogie of Evbuobanosa was attended by people from all walks of life including Chief David Edebiri, Esogban of Benin Kingdom, Prof Emmanuel Emovon, former Minister of Technology, representatives of the traditional council, the academia, members of civil society, non-governmental organizations, students, the press and the general public.
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