The Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS),
Babatunde Fowler has reacted to the leaked memo from the Presidency, revealing
what affected the agency from meeting its tax revenue target.
As reported a memo, allegedly written from the Office of the
Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari to Babatunde Fowler surfaced on the
internet on Sunday, August 18, 2019.
The letter queried the FIRS boss on why he consistently
failed to hit budget and why his tax revenue receipts over the last four years
were lower than that of the previous administration.
The Chief of Staff queried Fowler asking him to explain the
reason for the variances between the budgeted and actual revenues.
Kyari had given Fowler up till Monday, August 19, 2019, to
explain the reasons for the poor collections of revenue, as he said the actual
collections between 2015 and 2017 were significantly worse than what was
collected between 2012 and 2014.
In what appears like breaking his silence over the memo,
Fowler said the recession experienced by the Nigerian economy in 2016, as well
as the drop in oil prices, affected the revenue collected by the FIRS between
2015 and 2018.
The FIRS boss explained that despite the challenges, non-oil
revenue such as Value Added Tax (VAT) and company income tax — which he said
were within the control of the FIRS — have been on the increase compared to
pre-2015 figures.
“I refer to your
letter dated 8th August, 2019 on the above subject matter and hereby submit a
comprehensive variance analysis between budgeted and actual collections for
each main tax item for the period 2012-2018 as requested (see appendix 1).
“Your letter stated that actual collections for a 3-year
period were significantly worse than what was collected between 2012 and 2014.
Total actual collection for the said period was N14,527.85 trillion, while
total actual collection between 2016 to 2018 was N12,656.30 trillion. The
highlight of these collection figures was that during the period 2012 to 2014,
out of the N14,527.85 trillion, oil revenue accounted for N8,321.64 trillion or
57.28% while non-oil accounted for N6,206.22 trillion or 42.72% and during the
later period of 2016 to 2018, out of the N12,656.30 trillion, oil revenue
accounted for N5,145.87 trillion or 40.65% and non-oil revenue accounted
N7,510.42 trillion or 59.35%. FIRS Management has control of non-oil revenue
collection figures while oil revenue collection figures are subject to more
external forces.”
The FIRS chairman also maintained that the initiatives he
introduced had improved the country’s tax revenue collections.
Fowler’s statement continued, “The non-oil revenue
collection grew by N1,304.20 trillion or 21% within the period 2016 to 2018.
“Please note that the variance in the budgeted and actual
revenue collection performance of the Service for the period 2016 to 2018 was
main attributed to the following reasons:
“1. The low inflow of oil revenues for the period especially
Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) was due to fall in price of crude oil and reduction
of crude oil production. Notwithstanding government efforts to diversify the
economy, oil revenues remains (remain) an important component of total revenues
accruable to the Federation. The price of crude oil fell from an average of
$113.72, $110.98 and $100.40 per barrel in 2012, 2013 and 2014 to $ 52.65,
$43.80 and $54.08 per barrel in 2015, 2016 and 2017. There was also a reduction
in crude oil production from 2.31mbpd, 2.18mbpd and 2.20mbpd in 2012, 2013 and
2014 to 2.12mbpd, 1.81mbpd and 1.88mbpd in 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively.
“2. The Nigerian economy also went into recession in the
second quarter of 2016 which slowed down general economic activities. Tax
revenue collection (CIT and VAT) being a function of economic activities were
negatively affected but actual collection of the above two taxes were still
higher in 2016 to 2018 than in 2012 to 2014. During the years 2012, 2013 and
2014, GDP grew by 4.3%, 5.4% and 6.3% while in 2015, 2016 and 2017 there was a
decline in growth to 2.7%, -1.6% and 1.9% respectively. The tax revenue grew as
the economy recovered in the second quarter of 2017.
“3. It is worthy of note that strategies and initiatives
adopted in collection of VAT during the period 2015-2017 led to approximately
40% increase over 2012-2014 collections. In 2014 the VAT collected was N802billion,
compared to N1.1 trillion in 2018. This increase is attributable to various
initiatives such as ICT innovations, continuous taxpayer education, taxpayer
enlightenment, etc embarked upon by the Service.
“4. Furthermore, it is pertinent to note that when this
administration came on board in August 2015, the target the target for the two
major non-oil taxes were increased by 52% for VAT and 45% for CIT.
Notwithstanding the increase, FIRS has in line with the Federal government’s
revenue base diversification strategy has grown the non-oil tax collection by
over N1.304 trillion (21%) when the total non-oil tax collection for 2016-2018
is compared to that of 2012-2014.
“I am confident that our current strategies and initiatives
will improve revenue collection and meet the expectations of government.
“Please accept the assurance of my highest regards.”
Meanwhile, the Presidency has dismissed stories of alleged
probe of the FIRS boss.
