The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service , Mr. Babatunde Fowler, yesterday said the nation’s tax cash grew from N12, 190.52trillion between 2012 and 2014 to N16, 771.78 trillion from 2016 to 2018.He also insisted that he had grown the tax returns from the Non-Oil Sector by N1, 304.20trillion from 2016 and 2018.
“Your letter stated that actual collections for a 3-year period were significantly worse than what was collected between 2012 and 2014. Total actual collection for the said period was N14, 527.85 trillion, while total actual collection between 2016 and 2018 was N12, 656.30trillion.“The highlight of these collection figures was that during the period 2012 to 2014, out of the N14, 527.85 trillion, oil revenue accounted for N8, 321.64 trillion or 57.28% while non-oil accounted for N6, 206.
Fowler gave the details of how the economic recession and drop in oil production accounted for the variance in the budgeted and actual revenue collection. “The price of crude oil fell from an average of $113.72, $110.98 and $100.40 per barrel in 2012, 2013 and 2014 to $52.65, $43.80 and $54.08 per barrel in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
“During the years 2012, 2013 and 2014, GDP grew by 4.3%, 5.4% and 6.3% while in 2015, 2016 and 2017, there was a decline in growth to 2.7%, -1.6% and 1.9% respectively. The tax revenue grew as the economy recovered in the second quarter of 2017.” “In 2014, the VAT collected was N802billion, compared to N1.1trillion in 2018. The increase is attributable to various initiatives such as ICT innovations, continuous taxpayer education, tax enlightenment, etc. embarked upon by the Service.