The Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has warned that any plot by some interested groups or individuals to amend the laws governing the Value Added Tax (VAT) to favour the Federal Government against other tiers of government will fail.
This is coming a day after the Governor presided over a southern governors meeting in Enugu in which they reaffirmed their commitment to fiscal federalism and expressed their support for the position that state governments have been empowered to collect VAT.
In his reaction to the ongoing debate, Akeredolu believes that the issue of collection of VAT by state governments has been settled against the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) despite the court order directing parties in the dispute to maintain status quo pending the determination of the substantive suit before it.
Akeredolu said, “Our (the states’) position is that having looked at the law, it is there clearly for us to see that taxation, or what we call consumption taxes, falls within the purview of a state, and only a state can charge consumption taxes.
“And I believe that those who are against it know of it. If they don’t know, people will not be rushing to the National Assembly for an amendment that will not see the light of the day; it will be dead on arrival.”
“So, there is no need for us to run away from it. There are many more states that will join and there are some that will not join because at the end of the day, whatever we arrive at, they will be binding on all the states and what the southern governors have resolved is not new.”
