Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed on Monday inaugurated the Kwara Revenue House in Ilorin, and gave the state Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS) an annual target of 60 billion.
He said that the new target became necessary because of the sharp drop in the federal allocation to the state.
“In our case, monthly allocations have dropped from an average of N3.4b to N1.4b monthly, leading to N1b deficit in recurrent expenditure and leaving little for infrastructure.
“The State Government requires N2.4b for workers’ salaries alone,’’ adding that government cannot provide services “without effective tax system.”
Ahmed allayed the fear that the new system was to introduce additional tax burden on the masses.
He said the revenue service has been mandated to identify new sources of revenue and to be innovative in the mode of collecting the existing revenue sources.
Ahmed said his administration had long envisaged that the global search for alternative sources of energy would lead to a possible drop in oil prices with attendant multiplier effects on government revenues.
He said the new collection system would be based on blocking leakages, new technology, transparency and elimination of multiple taxation.
The governor said that in order to shore up the state internal revenue, government has introduced Kwara Resident Identification Number (KRIN) for individuals, organisations and businesses.
Ahmed assured that the money generated from the tax would be use to expand the economic base of the state by attracting local and foreign investors.
