EXECUTIVE Chairman of the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS), Mr Muritala Awodun, has said that there has been a drastic improvement in payment of tax by people of the state since the agency came on board in 2015.
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Tuesday, the KWIRS boss said that the development had made the people be critical and stop being complacent, adding that they now put government on its toes by monitoring of government’s programmes
He said that more people in the informal sector were paying the Personal Income Tax of 1,500 per annum, adding that those in the formal sector paid N12,000 per annum.
Awodun, who described the tax as the least in the country, said that as moderate as it is, it makes the people ask questions about how government manages the state resources.
The KWIRS boss said the agency, in performing its task, had been acting as an intermediary between the people and the government.
He explained that the agency ensures that people perform their obligation of paying tax and on the other hand encourage the government to ensure the people feel the impact of the revenue generated from them.
Awodun said the improved internally generated revenue of the state had enabled the government to embark on infrastructural projects as the money was devoted for the projects while it has also enabled the government to substantially devote federal allocation to the payment of the salary of workers.
The KWIRS boss who said the agency had been able to improve revenue from tax from about N5b it used to be before 2015 to about N19b in 2017 restated that the revenue proposed to collect this year as indicated in the state budget is N38b.