Usoro Akpanusoh suggests one IRS account for A’Ibom

L-R: Hon. Idongesit Ituen, Hon. Usoro Akpanusoh and Barr Onofiok Luke during a press briefing at AKHA Committee Conference room ... last Friday

BY EMMANUEL AKPAN

The member representing Esit Eket/Ibeno State Constituency, Rt. Hon. Usoro Akpanusoh in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has suggested the creation of an Akwa Ibom State Government consolidation Internally Generated Revenue Account, where all revenues of the State government collected by the appointed collecting banks are regularly and centrally transferred to before affecting government expenditures and other charges on the revenue. Usoro Akpanusoh stated this last Thursday while chatting with newsmen in his office Akpanusoh who is the Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation said the State should create an Inter-Ministerial, Departments and Agencies Revenue Collection platform at the Internal Service (IRS) of the State with IRS as the sole revenue collector for government for effective collection and consolidation of all government revenues.

He noted that a review of the present revenue profile and legal framework of the entire system of tax administration in the State to provide for amendments, abrogations and enactment of new legislations to make tax administration economical, simple, effective, seamless and taxpayer friendly, so as to guarantee voluntary compliance as required by the law under self assessment regime, adding that intensive tax education and tax awareness campaign across the State, especially in the informal sector.
The lawmaker identified inefficient system of revenue collection and remittance as the major factor responsible for low IGR in the State, and called for immediate measures by the both the legislature and the executive to address the situation in the light of the dwindling oil revenues and other transfer payments from the federation account.
According to Akpanusoh, “Some of the factors militating against collection and remittance include: inefficient system of tax administration deliberately permitted by corrupt government and tax officials in the State to perpetrate fraud in IGR collection and remittance in the State, negligence or complete failure of the executive arm of government to place premium on IGR collection due to past years’ overflowing oil revenues and other transfer payments from the federation account and failure of the State government to view IGR’s and their applications in the annual budgets to give the taxpayer the confidence to comply.”
Others include the inability or complete failure of the past House of Assembly in the State to carry out their oversight function on IGR due to poor funding of the appropriate House committee on IGR, multiple revenue demand notices by various other government MDA’s, apart from Internal Revenue Service, thereby creating suspicion that such demanded revenues are not usually remitted to government treasury, and non-compliance by taxpayers especially from the informal sector which constitutes more than 80% of assessable taxpayers in the State; complete absence of taxpayer’s education and regular interface with various and joint sectors of taxpayers in the State by both the executive and legislative arms of government through IRS and House committee on Finance and Appropriation respectively as well as corruption by government and tax officials.       
 The lawmaker further said that the tax administration and Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) are significantly related, and that the implication of this that when the system of tax administration in the State is inefficient, the IGR in the State will be grossly affected, adding that IGR and its administration in the State are subject to the various Federal tax enactments and policies that cover all taxes collected by the three tiers of government; meaning that it is only the Federal Government that makes relating to taxation in Nigeria even as he maintained that the taxes to be collected by the different tiers of government are specified accordingly within the laws.
He stressed that the major threat in between the trio of “Assessment, collection and remittance” is remittance, saying that most times in Akwa Ibom State, the taxpayers are assessed, the assessments are collected, but the monies ended up in a corrupt government and tax officials’ bank accounts and projects scattered all over the capital city of Uyo even as he noted that cases and incidences of diversion and non-remittance of IGR in the State abound.
In his words “The major challenges in the above regard is remittance, which requires immediate and short term measures by the legislature as a check and balance on the executive, so as to block the leakages that constitute drain pipes on the IGR of the State. I will suggest the creation of an Inter-Ministerial, Departments and Agencies Revenue collection platform at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as the sole revenue collector for the State government, for effective collection and consolidation of all government revenues. Also, a review of the present legal framework of the entire system of tax administration in the State to provide for amendments, abrogations and enactment of new legislations to make tax administration simple, effective, seamless and taxpayer friendly, so as to guarantee voluntary compliance as required by the new law under assessment regime.” He said.