Aregbesola has increased Osun IGR above 30% ―Fowler

THE chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Babatunde Fowler on Monday said Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration had raised the state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) above 30 per cent between 2016 and 2017.

Making the disclosure while paying a courtesy call on Aregbesola as part of activities lined up for the 140th Quarterly meeting of the Joint Tax Board, hosted by the Osun Board of Internal Revenue Service in Osogbo, he also maintained that the taxpayers’ money had been duly spent to justify massive infrastructures and socio-security programmes provided by the state government.

Fowler, who lauded Aregbeola’s administration for being resilient and focused in raising the bar of good governance in all ramifications, regardless of the prevailing economic realities noted that steady human and capital development have become possible through innovative ideology to robust taxation in the state.

He further maintained that Osun had made giant strides to stimulate her economy with determined efforts to an improved revenue generation, just as he tasked other states to key into the Osun revenue generation policy.

According to Fowler, “what Aregbesola has done in increasing tax revenue in Osun is amazing; while the Federal Inland Revenue Service is advocating for at least 25% increment from states, it is worthy of note that Aregbesola has increased the tax revenue of Osun above 30% between 2016-2017.”

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“Another significant observation having gone round Osun is that one can easily see that tax players’ money is working, a lot can be learnt from Osun on what taxation can do for a state. Osun was not like this before the advent of this administration and I know that Osun doesn’t get much from the federal allocations, so this spate of infrastructural development can only happen through an improved IGR,” he remarked.

In his remark, Aregbesola called on people to imbibe the spirit of tax payment, stressing that no meaningful development can take place without the people assisting the government through prompt payment of tax.

He stated many people fail to realise that public service is only possible through tax, if we think what is happening in Nigeria is sustainable then we are deceiving ourselves because our mainstay as a nation which is oil will no longer be useful in the next 30 years. The only thing we must do today is to develop alternatives to oil revenue, we must do more to find an alternative.”