will soon bring some of his oluwole upper iweka statistics to show us how abia Anambra are way economically viable than Oyo and Ogun combine

Sleyk:


You believe the nonsense up there abi?

That's verified stats so what is there not to believe

Nonsense!

Godons1:


E pain this one

Shows your lack of ability to know NONSENSE!

Godons1:


Cry me a River.

This Article has further reveal the parasite Region, which the North has been Spoon feeding since independence.

All these analysis should be weighed towards how each states can effectively utilize the VAT for their states development and eventual improvements in the living standard of citizens not to start comparing who has more VAT deductions or not.
Be guided.


Deep Quote:
Ability to read and comprehend is a superpower....you lack it.

MrUchenna1:
i stop reading this trash the moment i saw ( Nnamdi Kanu’s Abia State )

Imagine? SMH.

valentineuwakwe:
You believe those false figures churn up by the NBC at your own ordeals .......if this northern states produces more VAT as they claim, why are they opposing it?

Abeg only true federalism can reveal Nigeria hidden secrets and don't be surprise if the north become the first to leave the federation!

@

valentineuwakwe:
You believe those false figures churn up by the NBC at your own ordeals .......if this northern states produces more VAT as they claim, why are they opposing it?

Abeg only true federalism can reveal Nigeria hidden secrets and don't be surprise if the north become the first to leave the federation!

WaffenSS:



Lols you either read with your eyes closed or you're still asleep at 1.30pm.

Kano alone contributed more VAT than the 5 igbotic states together.

Now take that up your ass

WaffenSS:



Lols you either read with your eyes closed or you're still asleep at 1.30pm.

Kano alone contributed more VAT than the 5 igbotic states together.

Now take that up your ass

What's the essence of this.....one of the reasons Nigerian leaders do as they like....focus should be on how each state will effectively utilize whatever they generate towards development not about who gets so much VAT! SMH.


@SENIORWRITER

Ok

Hi very poor and biased analysis

This has always been a known fact. Reason why most governors including those from the south are not making much noise, they just sit and feed fat on federal allocation while generating little.

COPIED FROM : PwC (Price Waterhouse Coopers) website

Nigeria’s VAT facts and figures
1.VAT was introduced in Nigeria via Decree 102 of 1993 and implementation began in 1994. It replaced the sales tax introduced via Decree 7 of 1986. Since introduction almost 3 decades ago, VAT has become the fastest growing tax revenue head in Nigeria displacing PPT (N1.52 trillion) and CIT (N1.41 trillion) in 2020 to claim the top spot at N1.53 trillion.

2.The 1999 Constitution does not mention VAT, Sales or Consumption Tax even though the VAT law predates the 1999 constitution. The omission means it is considered a residual item which falls within the remit of state to legislate on based on S.4(7) of the 1999 Constitution.

3.The VAT act has been amended several times with key changes such as clear definition of exempt items, exemption threshold for small businesses with annual turnover not exceeding N25m, requirement for foreign suppliers to charge VAT, self-charging of VAT, exclusion of rent, land and building from the scope of VAT, etc

4.Over 500 food items are exempted from the national VAT including bread, cereal, fish, milk, fruits, yam and water. In addition, education books and materials, tuition, medical services, shared passenger transport, commercial air travel, and rent are exempted.

5.VAT collection in 2020 was N1.53 trillion out of which about 51% represented import VAT and international services. The top contributing sectors are professional services & telecoms 10.6%, other manufacturing 10.07%, commercial & trading 5.06%, breweries, bottling & beverages 3.90%, transport & haulage 2.84%.

6.Alcohol which is banned in some states contributed less than 3% of total VAT collection

7.Some big sectors contribute very little to VAT revenue due to the nature of their operations e.g. banks & financial institutions contributed 1.62% (because VAT is only charged on a small component of their income such as fees & commission but not on interest or premium), oil marketing contributed only 0.63% given that VAT is not charged on petroleum products.

8.In line with S.40 of the VAT Act, revenue is shared 15% to Federal Government, 50% to States & FCT, and 35% to Local Governments. The principle of derivation of not less than 20% is reflected in the distribution to states and LGs. Although not stated in the VAT Act, other factors used in the distribution are equality 50% and population 30%. There is a 4% cost of collection for FIRS and 2% for NCS in the case of import VAT.

9.States with the highest derivation are Lagos (50.5%), FCT (13.2%), Oyo (2.9%), Rivers (2.7%), and Kano (1.4%). The bottom 32 states contributed only 7% with the bottom 3 being Abia (0.08%), Osun (0.07%), and Zamfara (0.06%). On the other hand, amounts shared by the top states & their LGs are Lagos (14.7%), Kano (3.8%), Oyo (3.2%), Rivers (2.7%) and FCT (2.5%). The bottom 3 states shared Osun (2%), Abia (1.6%), and Zamfara (1.6%).

10.In the early years of VAT introduction, filing and payments were made based on branch locations. This practice was complicated especially with respect to offsetting of input against output VAT. A central system of filing was therefore introduced about a decade ago. This means VAT is currently filed and remitted centrally by companies based on their head office locations. This gives rise to what I call the “Headquarters Effect”. For instance, all the Telcos, Banks, big manufacturing companies, top professional firms etc with head offices in Lagos remit their VAT to FIRS offices in Lagos. This artificially inflates the VAT attributed to Lagos while reducing the VAT revenue attributed to other states. Other major states may suffer the HQ effect to some extent e.g. PH Electricity Disco based in Rivers but serving other states.

 Implications of a States’ VAT regime
1.If states enact their VAT or Sales tax laws, the guaranteed winners will be the federal government in respect of import VAT and international transactions (whether retained by FG only or paid into the Federation account and shared), and the FCT. States that may either lose or gain are Lagos and Rivers due to HQ effect and subject to collection efficiency. Lagos also has to deal with granting input VAT at 7.5% on items sourced by businesses outside the state against the lower output VAT rate of 6%. All other states and 774 local governments will be worse-off, all things being equal.

2.The positions of all states will be negatively impacted by lack of capacity to collect, difficulty in auditing compliance, and higher cost of collection which may be up to 15% especially in states where consultants and other forms of agency structures are used for tax collection.

3.States that have existing consumption tax such as Lagos, Edo and others would have to repeal those laws when introducing VAT or sales tax as to do otherwise would amount to legislating double taxation.

4.Small businesses with turnover not more than N25m that are exempt under the national VAT would have to comply with VAT under the states VAT laws.

5.Penalties for failure to register is as high as N50,000 for the first month and N100,000 for each subsequent month while the fine for failure to keep records to ascertain the correct VAT is up to N250,000. This penalty regime will weigh heavily on businesses especially SMEs such as barbers, hairdressers, tailors, shoemakers, plumbers, bus and taxi drivers, makeup artists, restaurant owners, etc. This further increases the risk of such businesses being harassed and extorted in many states especially those employing tugs to enforce tax compliance.

6.People will pay more, but government will collect less due to inefficiency of collection and leakages. There will be higher cost of goods and services arising from input VAT claim and refund complications in addition to items which are not exempted under the states VAT law such as rent, tuition, processed foods such as amala, suya, jollof rice, and ogbono soup. In addition, there will be incidence of double taxation due to likely conflicts between origination and destination principle in different states. Worse still when the reality of inability to implement VAT hits home many states will inevitably introduce sales tax with its cascading effect.

7.Nigeria’s ease of doing business and paying taxes will deteriorate in view of the multiple VAT compliance and Nigeria’s tax to GDP ratio will decline.

8.Tax practitioners including lawyers and accountants will benefit as the states VAT regime will create multiple fee opportunities to assist taxpayers comply.

9.Local governments will be worse off. Effectively between states and LGs, the VAT revenue split under the national VAT is 59% to 41%. However, states are prescribing lower rates for LGs e.g. Rivers 30%, Lagos 25%.

10.FIRS will lose cost of collection on VAT revenue within states and may have to improve its operational efficiency to sustain current capacity or seek additional funding from the National Assembly which will reduce revenue accruing for sharing to all level of government.

 Conclusions and recommendations
​The connotation that the current VAT controversy will improve fiscal federalism is superficial. Out of the top 7 taxes in Nigeria, 3 accrue entirely to states & local governments (personal income tax, property taxes, and stamp duties) while the remaining 4 (companies income tax, petroleum profits tax, VAT, import & excise duties) are shared to states & LGs at rates ranging from 43.32% from the federation account to 85% from the VAT pool. This is equivalent to 5 of the top 7 taxes accounting for over 95% of tax revenue in Nigeria accruing to states & local governments.

In the US, both the federal and state governments collect personal income tax while sales tax is only collected by states. Land which is a country’s most valuable natural resource is about one-third federally owned in the US while states own less than 10%, the rest are owned by private landowners, tribal authorities and counties. In Nigeria, land is owned almost entirely by states while personal income tax, the top revenue yielding tax head in the world, accounting for about 38% of tax revenue in South Africa, up to 41% in the US and over 30% global average, is entirely collectible by Nigerian states on their residents.

So, efforts aimed at addressing the current challenges need to be redirected. It is not a clash between states and federal government (amending the constitution is squarely within the purview of the National and States Assemblies). *It is also not a North vs South context, the 32 states that will suffer financially cut across all regions. And the impact of certain states sharing VAT from alcohol and spirits which are prohibited within their territories is exaggerated given that such products account for less than 3% of VAT revenue.*

Below are my thoughts on the way forward::
1.Put people first – any outcome that negatively impacts the majority of Nigerians is not the right solution just as we cannot claim to empower the subnational by weakening at least 32 states and all 774 local governments.

2.Address inequity - the current VAT revenue sharing formula among states is not equitable. This inequity should be addressed by allocating any domestic VAT collected from each state entirely to the respective state. Only VAT collected on imports, international services and inter-state transactions should be paid into the VAT pool and shared based on derivation. This will address the current controversy without creating new problems.

3.Give accelerated hearing – this is an issue of utmost national importance and should be accorded the urgency that it deserves by the judiciary and all key stakeholders. The uncertainty created is counter productive for business and tax revenue generation.

4.Redesign the VAT structure - regardless of the outcome of the ongoing court case, a more suitable VAT regime should be developed for Nigeria and clearly spelt out in the constitution. By extension, the tax system is overdue for a holistic review.

5.Avoid reversing progress – even if states are to collect consumption tax going forward, adopting the very old VAT law as we have seen with Rivers and Lagos state is a setback especially with respect to lack of exemption for small businesses, limited scope of exempt items, not addressing the digital economy and business reorganisation. The fact that a state has the legal right to enact a VAT law does not mean it should do so in a hurry. Sufficient time should be dedicated to consultation, stakeholder engagement, capacity building and administrative readiness before enacting the law with a minimum commencement of 3 months after enactment in line with the 2017 National Tax Policy. A model legislation may in fact be developed by the Joint Tax Board.

6.Grow the pie and optimise existing taxes – beyond ensuring equity in sharing the cake, everybody wins when we grow the pie. Creating a conducive business environment to stimulate the economy and creating employment will inevitably lead to more tax revenue for all levels of government. Examples include land reforms, unlocking dead assets and removing impediments to the ease of doing business.

Nigeria’s tax system is in a bad shape, which is set to get worse with the recent developments. To find the right solutions we must correctly define and properly situate the underlying issues to avoid misdirected prescriptions or “cobra effect” where the solution designed to solve a problem ends up making it worse.

Sources of data: FIRS & NBS.

huptin:
To be frank, at the point of break up, the south east may eventually come to the realization that Nigeria was the best gift they ever had!

True talk.

EmmanuelEvicted:
Northern states are nothing but leeches

Did u read the article or u just dashed to comment for likes? Read b4 u comment to avoid embarrassing ur dirty self.

What I read was a sentiment against the SE. All his write up is full of Islamic hatred for the SE.

If so, why is the North so worried about the VAT and the SE is not worried?

GboyegaD:
This bros needs a gag in his mouth ASAP. I understand his political ambition however, it will be nice to meddle into things more objectively. He should address the reasons why those who are against VAT being centrally collected for redistribution are complaining.

In addition, I would have wanted him to challenge the governors of our various states to work harder to increase their IGR than encouraging the ongoing laziness.

Forget about what he didn't say and analyze what he said.
You can also do your own write up on the things he didn't say. Abi you no be person?

This "whataboutism" is getting too much these days.

Echoban:
will soon bring some of his oluwole upper iweka statistics to show us how abia Anambra are way economically viable than Oyo and Ogun combine

EmmanuelEvicted:
Northern states are nothing but leeches

Lols you either read with your eyes closed or you're still asleep at 1.30pm.

Kano alone contributed more VAT than the 5 igbotic states together.

Now take that up your ass

Seniorwriter:
Nonsense!



@SENIORWRITER

E pain this one

bilms:
THE WAR OVER VALUE ADDED TAX: THE FACTS AND THE FICTIONS
By Olawepo Hashim

https://www.facebook.com/100050227010971/posts/392987769052120/

Let states collect their own VAT. When states stop relying on the FG to share money to them, I believe then they'll start thinking of ways to raise the IGR and develop their state making, it eye catching for people to invest in it.

EmmanuelEvicted:
Northern states are nothing but leeches

Don’t mind Olawepo Hashim, he is a Fulani slave right? And ALL southern states are heaven on earth. Even Osun state is way more productive than Kano and Kaduna combine now? Is that no so?

cc: Gerrard59

salesbloo:



In Other words, Other states are parasites

The 5 EASTERN States.

i stop reading this trash the moment i saw ( Nnamdi Kanu’s Abia State )

You believe those false figures churn up by the NBC at your own ordeals .......if this northern states produces more VAT as they claim, why are they opposing it?

Abeg only true federalism can reveal Nigeria hidden secrets and don't be surprise if the north become the first to leave the federation!

Conversely, when it came to distribution, Nnamdi Kanu’s Abia State got N20.020B for generating N2billion, yet he wants to leave Nigeria that is “oppressing” him. Abia got 10 times what it contributed whereas Kaduna and Kano did not get as much as twice what they contributed. Lagos, Rivers and Oyo got lower.

Another foolish propagandist.

Stop complaining and decentralised the government.

EVEN without a kobo to most Southeast States, we want VAT collection to be done by the States.

EmmanuelEvicted:
Northern states are nothing but leeches

Did you read before commenting? I doubt it!

Seniorwriter:
Nonsense!


Shows your lack of ability to know NONSENSE!

Deep Quote:
Ability to read and comprehend is a superpower....you lack it.


@SENIORWRITER

Cry me a River.

This Article has further reveal the parasite Region, which the North has been Spoon feeding since independence.

Beautifully written nonsense

Northern position on VAT


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS5wBW3LzHk

Positiveminds:
Beautifully written nonsense

Chai, this article really pain many people.

Amodi470:
COPIED FROM : PwC (Price Waterhouse Coopers) website

Nigeria’s VAT facts and figures
1.VAT was introduced in Nigeria via Decree 102 of 1993 and implementation began in 1994. It replaced the sales tax introduced via Decree 7 of 1986. Since introduction almost 3 decades ago, VAT has become the fastest growing tax revenue head in Nigeria displacing PPT (N1.52 trillion) and CIT (N1.41 trillion) in 2020 to claim the top spot at N1.53 trillion.

2.The 1999 Constitution does not mention VAT, Sales or Consumption Tax even though the VAT law predates the 1999 constitution. The omission means it is considered a residual item which falls within the remit of state to legislate on based on S.4(7) of the 1999 Constitution.

3.The VAT act has been amended several times with key changes such as clear definition of exempt items, exemption threshold for small businesses with annual turnover not exceeding N25m, requirement for foreign suppliers to charge VAT, self-charging of VAT, exclusion of rent, land and building from the scope of VAT, etc

4.Over 500 food items are exempted from the national VAT including bread, cereal, fish, milk, fruits, yam and water. In addition, education books and materials, tuition, medical services, shared passenger transport, commercial air travel, and rent are exempted.

5.VAT collection in 2020 was N1.53 trillion out of which about 51% represented import VAT and international services. The top contributing sectors are professional services & telecoms 10.6%, other manufacturing 10.07%, commercial & trading 5.06%, breweries, bottling & beverages 3.90%, transport & haulage 2.84%.

6.Alcohol which is banned in some states contributed less than 3% of total VAT collection

7.Some big sectors contribute very little to VAT revenue due to the nature of their operations e.g. banks & financial institutions contributed 1.62% (because VAT is only charged on a small component of their income such as fees & commission but not on interest or premium), oil marketing contributed only 0.63% given that VAT is not charged on petroleum products.

8.In line with S.40 of the VAT Act, revenue is shared 15% to Federal Government, 50% to States & FCT, and 35% to Local Governments. The principle of derivation of not less than 20% is reflected in the distribution to states and LGs. Although not stated in the VAT Act, other factors used in the distribution are equality 50% and population 30%. There is a 4% cost of collection for FIRS and 2% for NCS in the case of import VAT.

9.States with the highest derivation are Lagos (50.5%), FCT (13.2%), Oyo (2.9%), Rivers (2.7%), and Kano (1.4%). The bottom 32 states contributed only 7% with the bottom 3 being Abia (0.08%), Osun (0.07%), and Zamfara (0.06%). On the other hand, amounts shared by the top states & their LGs are Lagos (14.7%), Kano (3.8%), Oyo (3.2%), Rivers (2.7%) and FCT (2.5%). The bottom 3 states shared Osun (2%), Abia (1.6%), and Zamfara (1.6%).

10.In the early years of VAT introduction, filing and payments were made based on branch locations. This practice was complicated especially with respect to offsetting of input against output VAT. A central system of filing was therefore introduced about a decade ago. This means VAT is currently filed and remitted centrally by companies based on their head office locations. This gives rise to what I call the “Headquarters Effect”. For instance, all the Telcos, Banks, big manufacturing companies, top professional firms etc with head offices in Lagos remit their VAT to FIRS offices in Lagos. This artificially inflates the VAT attributed to Lagos while reducing the VAT revenue attributed to other states. Other major states may suffer the HQ effect to some extent e.g. PH Electricity Disco based in Rivers but serving other states.

 Implications of a States’ VAT regime
1.If states enact their VAT or Sales tax laws, the guaranteed winners will be the federal government in respect of import VAT and international transactions (whether retained by FG only or paid into the Federation account and shared), and the FCT. States that may either lose or gain are Lagos and Rivers due to HQ effect and subject to collection efficiency. Lagos also has to deal with granting input VAT at 7.5% on items sourced by businesses outside the state against the lower output VAT rate of 6%. All other states and 774 local governments will be worse-off, all things being equal.

2.The positions of all states will be negatively impacted by lack of capacity to collect, difficulty in auditing compliance, and higher cost of collection which may be up to 15% especially in states where consultants and other forms of agency structures are used for tax collection.

3.States that have existing consumption tax such as Lagos, Edo and others would have to repeal those laws when introducing VAT or sales tax as to do otherwise would amount to legislating double taxation.

4.Small businesses with turnover not more than N25m that are exempt under the national VAT would have to comply with VAT under the states VAT laws.

5.Penalties for failure to register is as high as N50,000 for the first month and N100,000 for each subsequent month while the fine for failure to keep records to ascertain the correct VAT is up to N250,000. This penalty regime will weigh heavily on businesses especially SMEs such as barbers, hairdressers, tailors, shoemakers, plumbers, bus and taxi drivers, makeup artists, restaurant owners, etc. This further increases the risk of such businesses being harassed and extorted in many states especially those employing tugs to enforce tax compliance.

6.People will pay more, but government will collect less due to inefficiency of collection and leakages. There will be higher cost of goods and services arising from input VAT claim and refund complications in addition to items which are not exempted under the states VAT law such as rent, tuition, processed foods such as amala, suya, jollof rice, and ogbono soup. In addition, there will be incidence of double taxation due to likely conflicts between origination and destination principle in different states. Worse still when the reality of inability to implement VAT hits home many states will inevitably introduce sales tax with its cascading effect.

7.Nigeria’s ease of doing business and paying taxes will deteriorate in view of the multiple VAT compliance and Nigeria’s tax to GDP ratio will decline.

8.Tax practitioners including lawyers and accountants will benefit as the states VAT regime will create multiple fee opportunities to assist taxpayers comply.

9.Local governments will be worse off. Effectively between states and LGs, the VAT revenue split under the national VAT is 59% to 41%. However, states are prescribing lower rates for LGs e.g. Rivers 30%, Lagos 25%.

10.FIRS will lose cost of collection on VAT revenue within states and may have to improve its operational efficiency to sustain current capacity or seek additional funding from the National Assembly which will reduce revenue accruing for sharing to all level of government.

 Conclusions and recommendations
​The connotation that the current VAT controversy will improve fiscal federalism is superficial. Out of the top 7 taxes in Nigeria, 3 accrue entirely to states & local governments (personal income tax, property taxes, and stamp duties) while the remaining 4 (companies income tax, petroleum profits tax, VAT, import & excise duties) are shared to states & LGs at rates ranging from 43.32% from the federation account to 85% from the VAT pool. This is equivalent to 5 of the top 7 taxes accounting for over 95% of tax revenue in Nigeria accruing to states & local governments.

In the US, both the federal and state governments collect personal income tax while sales tax is only collected by states. Land which is a country’s most valuable natural resource is about one-third federally owned in the US while states own less than 10%, the rest are owned by private landowners, tribal authorities and counties. In Nigeria, land is owned almost entirely by states while personal income tax, the top revenue yielding tax head in the world, accounting for about 38% of tax revenue in South Africa, up to 41% in the US and over 30% global average, is entirely collectible by Nigerian states on their residents.

So, efforts aimed at addressing the current challenges need to be redirected. It is not a clash between states and federal government (amending the constitution is squarely within the purview of the National and States Assemblies). *It is also not a North vs South context, the 32 states that will suffer financially cut across all regions. And the impact of certain states sharing VAT from alcohol and spirits which are prohibited within their territories is exaggerated given that such products account for less than 3% of VAT revenue.*

Below are my thoughts on the way forward::
1.Put people first – any outcome that negatively impacts the majority of Nigerians is not the right solution just as we cannot claim to empower the subnational by weakening at least 32 states and all 774 local governments.

2.Address inequity - the current VAT revenue sharing formula among states is not equitable. This inequity should be addressed by allocating any domestic VAT collected from each state entirely to the respective state. Only VAT collected on imports, international services and inter-state transactions should be paid into the VAT pool and shared based on derivation. This will address the current controversy without creating new problems.

3.Give accelerated hearing – this is an issue of utmost national importance and should be accorded the urgency that it deserves by the judiciary and all key stakeholders. The uncertainty created is counter productive for business and tax revenue generation.

4.Redesign the VAT structure - regardless of the outcome of the ongoing court case, a more suitable VAT regime should be developed for Nigeria and clearly spelt out in the constitution. By extension, the tax system is overdue for a holistic review.

5.Avoid reversing progress – even if states are to collect consumption tax going forward, adopting the very old VAT law as we have seen with Rivers and Lagos state is a setback especially with respect to lack of exemption for small businesses, limited scope of exempt items, not addressing the digital economy and business reorganisation. The fact that a state has the legal right to enact a VAT law does not mean it should do so in a hurry. Sufficient time should be dedicated to consultation, stakeholder engagement, capacity building and administrative readiness before enacting the law with a minimum commencement of 3 months after enactment in line with the 2017 National Tax Policy. A model legislation may in fact be developed by the Joint Tax Board.

6.Grow the pie and optimise existing taxes – beyond ensuring equity in sharing the cake, everybody wins when we grow the pie. Creating a conducive business environment to stimulate the economy and creating employment will inevitably lead to more tax revenue for all levels of government. Examples include land reforms, unlocking dead assets and removing impediments to the ease of doing business.

Nigeria’s tax system is in a bad shape, which is set to get worse with the recent developments. To find the right solutions we must correctly define and properly situate the underlying issues to avoid misdirected prescriptions or “cobra effect” where the solution designed to solve a problem ends up making it worse.

Sources of data: FIRS & NBS.

This is an interesting article and I suggest you create a thread for it or should I help you do that?

EmmanuelEvicted:
Northern states are nothing but leeches

But they are doing better than Eastern states and seem to be more viable.I pity those hoping for Biafra.

mfm04622:


Did you read before commenting? I doubt it!

Read the propaganda. Why are they resisting? The South supports decentralised VAT collection at the detriment of most Southern States.

The North should stop resisting the obvious or better still rewrite the whole constitution from scratch.

ClassicMan202:
Yes... We agree

Let's just divide and see who suffers

After all person wey suffer go get sense

Mr. Divide. Divide wont do any good than unite.

es144000:
But they are doing better than Eastern states and seem to be more viable.I pity those hoping for Biafra.

We agree. Let them accept the obvious. The decentralisation has just started.