The Chairman of the Ekiti State Internal Revenue Service(IRS), Mr. Muyiwa Ogunmilade has said that the Kayode Fayemi- led administration is working hard to deepen the state’s revenue base.
Ogunmilade,who disclosed this in a chat with journalists in Ado-Ekiti, said the state is on the path of greatness due to governor Fayemi’s investment friendly policies and programmes .
According to him,the internal revenue under his supervision had recorded tremendous successes through the innovation and deployment of modern technology in the tax administration .
According to him,some of the initiatives deployed by IRS to reduce friction between tax payers and the administrators was the establishment of relationship management unit.
He added:”Tax is a universal thing but elites are making tax administration more difficult in Ekiti .Nobody wants to pay tax anywhere in the world ,even advanced country applied sanctions for tax defaulters. .Ekiti is not near crescendo of where its supposed to be in terms of revenue but we are moving fast ” Ogunmilade said
He explained that his team had succeeded in increasing the internally generated revenue from the paltry 400million to N850million monthly.
According to him, this was made possible through a process called ‘Tax Net’,which enables diligent capturing of many businesses outfits hitherto operating in the State without paying taxes .
Specifically ,Ogunmilade said Governor Kayode Fayemi has been able to jack up the state’s revenue from “N400m monthly in 2018 to N850 million without double taxation, without any burden, without increasing taxes. I am just sure that Ekiti can generate N1.5 billion monthly. We are not over- promising. If we can do that, a lot of things will be easier for our state”.
Ogunmilade disclosed that IRS in its determination to tackle tax evasion, also discovered about 150 car wash business premises in Ado, Ikere and Iworoko that were not paying taxes, saying the agency had given them bills to raise the monthly IGR profile.
The Ekiti State tax chief added further that the informal or shadow sector of the economy like: commercial motorcyclists fondly called Okada riders, tailoring, bricklaying and other associations, are being properly structured, to be able to make adequate contributions to IGR generation.
“We have also introduced Land use charge, which is what you pay to government for built property. It used to be tenement rate. We are particularly happy because our people are cooperating in spite of the initial hitches.
“That was why I said we can do N1.5 billion. Tax is not optional . The most certain thing on earth is tax and death. The issue of double taxation doesn’t arise. We are effecting our tax policy implementation with human face”.
He added that the government is also looking for ways to deepen its economic activities, by wooing investors and attract establishment of more private universities and employment generating businesses to Ekiti to increase tax payment.
“We are also looking inwards and revamping our moribund industries. For instance, Nigeria requires 1.7 million litres of milk to cater for daily consumption and only 30 percent is produced locally. This shows that we must work quickly on our Ikun dairy firm that we are doing with Promasidor Nigeria Limited, because we will definitely have offtakers if we produce that 10,000 daily production .
“Let us look at how our economy will be in Ekiti if we an international brewery in our state. We are at the centre and we can easily supply Edo, Ondo, Kogi and Kwara states, where there are no breweries. That is why our elite must support us. We have a long way to go”.
Ogunmiladeb said that Governor Fayemi has given the agency autonomy to ensure independence in operations and to ensure efficiency.
He said: “We can operate without being caged by civil service rules. The law for our autonomy has been signed. We now have the potentials to develop. Tax is not a punishment, it is not a burden. It was even mentioned in the Bible many times than tithe”.
“Rather than for the citizens to be running away from tax or think that it is only when a government performs that they can pay , they should rather wait for election time to vote out any government that doesn’t use their taxes properly. They should learn how to use the weapon of election to effect change”.
