Ubong Sampson — Uyo
The war between the Rivers State Government and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on which of the two will have the right to the Value Added Taxes paid by businesses operating in the state, has taken a new dimension, as Governor Nyesom Wike has threatened to shut all offices of the federal agency in his state.
Governor Wike made the threat, Wednesday in Port Harcourt, while speaking on the VAT controversy during a meeting with business owners and representatives of multinationals operating in his state.
According to the PDP-member governor, the FIRS has been trying to bully his government into relinquishing its right to the VAT tax collection in Rivers State. He warned that if the agency does not desist forthwith, he is going to take over all their offices in the state.
“I overhead the FIRS chairman saying that he will show me the powers of the federal government, that the federal government will muzzle the judiciary. It is not my business. The court has decided. All these bullying by FIRS, they should mind the state they are bullying. FIRS should be very careful. You don’t bully state like ours.
“I have the political will to do a lot of things. I am not one of those governors that will shy away. If they continue to bully us, all their offices in the state, I will take.
“We filed the Value Added Tax (VAT) collection action against FIRS and the office of the Attorney General representing the Federal Government in 2020. In July 2021 the Chairman of FIRS wrote to the National Assembly through the Office of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives to amend the Constitution and empowered the Federal Government to collect VAT.
“They knew what they were doing was unconstitutional so in July 2021 they wrote a letter for the constitution to be amended to Include VAT in the exclusive legislative list. This was exactly what we were challenging in court so they tried to include it through the back door. Corruption is not only people collecting money, corruption is also doing things illegally”, the governor added.
The governor also threatened to seal off the business premises of operators who will continue to pay the contended VAT to FIRS, notifying them that his government will, starting from the current month of September, be collecting VAT.
In trying to prove a case of injustice against southern states as regards revenue collection rights, Wike said, “in June, N15.1bn was collected as taxes in Rivers State but 4.7bn was given to Rivers State; 46.4bn was collected from Lagos State and but Lagos was given N9.3bn. Kano generated 2.8bn and got 2.8bn.
“You can’t destroy beer in your state in the name of sharia yet share from VAT on beer from other states. It is Hypocrisy. Free money has promoted laziness. If you want to be a Governor grow your state’s economy. You can’t contribute humongous numbers during elections that can’t translate to tax earnings for your state. If they can vote, they should be able to work and pay tax. Let the right thing be done”.
