The prevailing negative economic environment has had a very adverse effect on the performance of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the nation’s most important revenue agency, as it collected only N1, 207 , 896, 760, 318. 14 in 2016.
A summary of collections at the disposal of Sunday Vanguard indicated that only N 299,802,506,588.50 was collected as Company Income Tax (CIT), which was a far cry from the expected N867 billion contained in the 2016 budget.
However, Value Added Tax (VAT) yielded N 473,464,201,273.68 as against the budgeted N198 billion; while Annual Luxury Surcharge and Capital Gains Tax brought in N 389,215.00; and N 5,181,085,834.74, respectively.
Education Tax generated N 46,868,726,865.07; Foreign Travels Surcharge, N 50, 000; NITDEF N 7,592,280,052.74; Pay As You Earn (PAYE), N 47,236,020,074.34; Personal Income Tax, N 632,690,077.20; Pre-Operational Levy, N 391,008,052.89; Stamp Duties, N 5,878,279,893.53; and Withholding Tax, N 320,849,522,390.45.
The recession has forced the Federal Government to reduce its CIT budget for 2017 to N808 billion, representing a 7 per cent cut.
However, the VAT budget has been increased from N198 billion in 2016 to N242 in the 2017 budget, That increase was N44 billion of 22 per cent.
