The
Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) is
advocating for a 50 per cent increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) from the
present 5 per cent, the Daily Trust reports.
The disclosure is
coming on the heels of experts warning against increase in VAT and other
forms of taxes at the prevailing economic situation.
The VAT is borne by
the final consumer of goods and services (except medicines, basic
foods, exports, books/educational materials, baby products, farm
machineries and few other items. Thus, VAT also adds to the marginal
costs of all goods and services that are taxable.
VAT revenue is collected by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and shared among the three tiers of government.
Chairman of RMAFC,
Mr Shettima Gana who spoke yesterday in Kano at a two-day National
Revenue Retreat on strategies to expand the revenue base of the
government and the new sources for revenue generation, said a rise in
VAT is one way government can get more revenue.
This is in spite of
the dwindling disposable income of the ordinary Nigerian and rising
unemployment level. The proposition if executed will see the VAT on all
consumer goods among others, rise by 2.5 per cent. Moreover, the
Commission wants it pegged at 10 per cent in the long run.
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