Lagos State House of Assembly on Wednesday welcomed Stakeholders’ to its Public Hearing to garner public opinion on the bill for Lagos State Value Added Tax, VAT Law and for other relevant purposes. It would be recalled that the action for the establishment of the bill emanated from the Rivers State’s Judgment which declared that it was the constitutional role of state governments to collect Vat, and not Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS. Therefore, Lagos State, in her right to enable the collection of VAT, expects the bill to create a complete tax regime that will channel more resources towards its developmental goals. Accordingly, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. (Dr.) Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, represented by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Wasi Eshinlokun-Sanni in his keynote address, added that States feel financially strangulated and unfairly treated by the federal government in its administration and appropriation of receipts of VAT.
“The responsibility of collecting VAT is assumed by the federal government, through the FIRS; this is against the messages and spirits of the true federalism that our fathers fought for and that we are currently agitating.” “When Justice Pam upheld the rights of Rivers State and by extension, all other States of the federation to collect VAT on the businesses conducted within their territories; the action brings to the fore of actualization, the true federalism that we have been agitating and this will ensure that the State could afford more resources to channel towards her developmental goals.” He said. Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Hon. Rotimi Olowo enjoined stakeholders to state their contributions for the generality of Lagos, to make a befitting law that will aid the common social-economic development of the State.
Presenting the overview of the bill, Deputy Majority Leader, Hon. Noheem Adams highlighted that the bill covers the entire gamut of the issues from Identification of taxable goods and transactions to the rate of tax; remittance of tax; inspection, management and administration; establishment and composition of VAT tribunal and offences in relation to evasion of tax. He added that the bill also empowers the Commissioner for Finance to make regulations with the consent of the Governor, subject to the Regulation Approval Law for carrying into effect the provisions of the law. Contributing, Chairman, Igbogbo Bayeku local government, Hon. Sesan Daini appealed that the distribution ratio of the revenue as prescribed by the bill when passed into law, should be shared equally to encourage urbanization in each local government of the State.
On the issue of composition of the VAT tribunal, Mr. Adeola Samuel, Director, Human Right Electricity & Consumer Association opined that the members of the tribunal should include civil servants with relevant experience in tax matters. Representative of Iyaloja General, Mrs. Abimbola Jimoh submitted that though it is important to increase the economy, the traders who will be affected by the implementation of the bill must be considered. The Secretary of the Trade Union Congress, Comrade Olatunde Olaitan, stated that the domestication of the VAT law will bring economic growth to the State. He further implored the government to look for ways to stimulate remittance of tax by Lagosians. Subsequently, Hon. Wasi Eshinlokun-Sanni in response assured the stakeholders that their contributions and submission of memoranda will be added as the recommendations of the Committee.
