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| Arlat, Chairman PSIRS |
We made ₦12.7bn in 2018 and targeting
₦18bn in 2019 – PSIRS
By Dickson Gupiya
January 17, 2019
The Plateau
State Internal Revenue Service has generated ₦12.7 billion in 2018 and hopes to
meet the 2019 target of ₦18.7 billion.
Chairman of
the Service, Mr. Arlat Dashe dropped the cherry
news when members of the Plateau State Independent Publishers Association, PIPA
paid him a courtesy call in his Office recently.
Mr. Arlat
explained that since 2015, the Revenue Service has witnessed steady and
tremendous increase in internally generated revenue (IGR); beginning from
₦7.1bn in 2015 which was increased to ₦9.01 bn in 2016 and then ₦10.7bn in
2017.
He
attributed the increase in IGR to a number of factors, including total support
and commitment of the Governor Simon Bako Lalong led administration, the
revenue harmonization law and development of ICT infrastructure to foster
e-collections and recruitment of over 200 staff amongst others.
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| Cross section of PSIRS Directors |
He further
narrated that "every month, about ₦2bn is injected into the state's
economy as salaries of civil servants. This helps in boosting economic
activities and growth as taxation gives the state the highest revenue outside
federal allocation."
On the issue
of ground rents and tenement rents not being paid, the Plateau State Chief Tax
collector reiterated that nine different bills bothering on tax, service
charges, fees and levies were harmonized into a single law which was passed by
the Plateau State House of Assembly. This according to him gave birth to what
is now known as land use charge which is to be paid by all property owners in
the state, irrespective of whether or not, the property has Certificate of
Occupancy or Rights of Occupancy.
"For
2019, we intend to achieve our target by focusing mostly on the informal sector
and enforcing the collection of the land use charge. We have over 300,000
houses in Jos alone, you can imagine how much the state will generate if every
house pays an average of ₦12,000 annually.
"We
will continue our engagement with stakeholders and diverse groups in the state.
We will liaise with associations, trade unions and professional bodies to help
bring their members on board to start paying taxes. We will also continue our
interface with all government Ministries, Departments and Agencies for better
understanding of the harmonization law and active collaboration to boost
revenue collection" he said.
Arlat also
called on PIPA to join the State revenue service as partners in progress by
creating awareness on the need for citizens to see paying taxes as a civic
responsibility and do so without being coerced.
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| Arlat in a group photograph with PIPA members |
"The APC led administration under the leadership of our amiable governor; Rt. Hon. Simon Bako Lalong has achieved a lot and is doing so much for Plateau people which goes unnoticed. I want you to use your various platforms to tell Plateau people what the government is doing and why it deserves another four years".
Speaking
earlier, Chairman of PIPA, Chief Amb. Nanyah Andrew Daman said the purpose of
PIPA's visit was to show its commitment to the development of Plateau State and
that as indigenous publishers, they are better positioned to convey
government's policies and programmes to the grassroots.
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| Arlat in a group photographs with directors and management staff of the service |
He called on
the state government to go into a mutually benefitting partnership with PIPA so
that the association can publicize all of government's achievements.
He also
emphasized the need for reorientation of the citizens on modern system of
taxation, how to go about getting a TIN number and making sure that people pay
taxes to the appropriate authorities.
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