Bauchi to reinvigorate tax collection

Bauchi State Government said it is reviewing its tax laws to further improve taxes by adopting the Treasury Single Account system and other robust initiatives that would place the state at the appropriate position within the Nigerian tax sphere.
Governor Mohammed Abdullahi said the government was mindful of how difficult collecting taxes could be, which was why he gave the Revenue Board the ability to carry out their activities with full autonomy and strong political backing.
A statement issued by Press Secretary to the governor, Abubakar
Al-Sadique, and made available to newsmen in Bauchi, quoted the governor as lamenting that some businesses and individuals still evade taxes.
According to the governor, “To build Nigeria of our dreams, we must, as citizens and as government, show our great deal of patriotism in the discharge of our civic responsibilities. The resounding feats the Federal Inland Revenue Services has achieved over the years by exceeding its revenue target is another testimony of patriotism and professionalism which are the major ingredients that propel efficiency and prosperity.” Governor Abubakar said the success story of the FIRS has encouraged the waves of positive change that blows in the country by stabilising the economy for the government to fund its infrastructural revolution and social intervention programmes, aside its other primary responsibilities.
He explained that the Bauchi State Internal Revenue Service has eliminated manual tax collection system, and automated all collection platforms that have significantly raised IGR by plugging revenue leakages at one end and providing taxpayers at one end providing taxpayers a convenient, reliable and efficient platform to fulfill their tax obligations to the state at the other.
“Despite the great turbulence of the tide we sailed towards reinvigorating the apparatus of governance, the state revenue generating apparatus has been restructured to an innovative and a technology driven one that moves at pace with the emerging realities of the tax environment,” the governor further
explained.
He said the place of tax as the major thrust of economic growth is unquestionable since time immemorial as the “first principle that defines an organized society, saying his administration has been able to judiciously utilise the state meager resources towards raising all economic and social indices of the
people.
Gov. Abubakar further stressed that “our desire for
excellence has clearly manifested in the quality of our projects, priority in education, agriculture, infrastructure and rural development is revolutionary in our history as a
state.”