December 22, (THEWILL) – The Plateau State Internal Revenue Service (PSIRS) says all adults in the state would be mandated to pay a development tax of N300 per annum.
Also, banks and construction companies would pay the development tax, even as efforts would also be intensified to collect consumption tax from persons lodging and spending money in hotels and other accommodation outlets in the state.
“In 2022, we will look at other avenues of getting revenue… Not having a Tax Identification Number, TIN is a crime in Plateau state. Everyone from 18 years and above would be required to pay a development tax of N300, construction companies and banks too will also pay a tax of between N5,000 and N50,000,” PSIRS said.
Chairman, PSIRS, Dashe Arlat, who disclosed this to newsmen in Jos, said the move is to meet its 2022 Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) target of N5billion per month. He added that the state has the potential to realize “between N3.5 billion to N5 billion monthly if everyone comes on board.”
Arlat, who gave a breakdown of IGR accrued to the state between January to November 2021, insisted that more efforts would be deployed to accrue more funds to the state in the coming year.
He said: “From January to November 2021, a total of N20,060,219,702.16 was received as IGR, based on our assessment, Plateau has the potential to get between N3.5 billion to N5 billion monthly as against our initial target of N2bn per month. This can be achieved if everyone comes on board.
“In 2022, we will look at other avenues of getting revenue… Not having a Tax Identification Number, TIN is a crime in Plateau State. Everyone from 18 years and above would be required to pay a development tax of N300, construction companies and banks too will also pay a tax of between N5,000 and N50,000. “Everyone would be required to have a tax clearance certificates, this will boost the independent revenue of the state.
“There are lots of potentials in the MDAs, they must make sure that things work fine… We will implement a consumption tax on hotels from 2022, we hope to double our revenue. Citizens should know that we all must pay tax, it must be voluntary because not filing tax returns attracts penalties of N50,000 for individuals and N500,000 for organisations.
“Hotels that are not duly registered with the Tourism Ministry would be penalised, schools and hospitals that are not duly registered with relevant Ministries will also be penalized. Proper registration of these places will help not only in tax collections but in the security of citizens hence, there will be increased enforcement and monitoring in the state.”
He urged citizens to make use of relevant committees like whistle-blowing, harmonisation, and others to help the service to track would-be taxpayers because improved tax collection would ensure improved infrastructure and development.
