By John Ameh
The Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Mr. Tunde Fowler, has responded to a query issued to him by President Muhammadu Buhari over dwindling tax revenue collections by the service.
In a memo dated August 8, 2019, President Buhari had through his Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, asked Fowler to provide answers to significant variances between the budgeted collections and actual collections for the period 2015 to 2018.
“The recession experienced by the Nigerian economy in 2016 as well as lower oil prices affected the revenue collected by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) between 2015 and 2018, Fowler, explained on Monday.
In spite of the difficulties, Fowler explained that non-oil revenue such as VAT and company income tax — which he said are within the control of FIRS — have been on the increase compared to pre-2015 figures.
But oil-based taxes, such as petroleum profit tax (PPT), are beyond the control of the service.
Kyari had lamented in the query that the actual collections for 2015 to 2017 were significantly worse than what was collected between 2012 and 2014.
Fowler, who is completing his four-year term as FIRS boss amid speculations that he might not be re-appointed, explained in his response that non-oil tax revenue has actually been on the rise.
