The minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Wale Edun, says some of the taxes and levies collected in the country never end up in government coffers.
Edun said this while appearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, insisting that despite the multiplicity of taxes and levies in the country, only nine of such taxes are paid to the government’s revenue account.
He also said that the government does not have enough resources to fund critical infrastructure hence the need to look inward for better revenue-generating opportunities, while paying less attention to borrowing from multilateral institutions whom he said have less funds for the country.
Edun said the government was revamping the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) to remove the middleman from the system and ensure that revenue from VAT goes directly to government coffers from the point of sale.
The minister, who denied plans by the government to increase taxes, said the government plan was to increase efficiency in tax collection while expanding the tax net to ensure that all those who are supposed to pay tax but are not, are made to pay.
