Despite fears of future insolvency of his state expressed by Governor Dave Umahi should states begin to collect Value Added Taxes following the ongoing VAT war between Rivers, Lagos States and the Federal Inland Revenue Service; data from the FIRS shows that Ebonyi had the highest VAT collection in the South East.
Saturday Vanguard obtained details of collections made by each state and what it was allocated by the Federation Allocation Committee (FAAC), between January and August of this year, which indicates that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Offices in Lagos, Rivers and Oyo states recorded the highest collections.
Governor Umahi had during a state dinner in honour of former chief of army staff, General Tukur Buratai, said that FIRS should collect VAT and not states.
Reiterating his earlier stance on the matter a day after the Southern Governors Forum said it was within the purview of states to collect VAT, Umahi said on a TV programme that states like Ebonyi will collapse if states begin to collect VAT.
He also pleaded with the Southern Governors to be their brother’s keeper, adding that all states are not equal.
While Ebonyi had the highest collection of VAT in the region, it actually received the least allocation from FAAC. However, Imo which had the least VAT collection, received the highest allocation from FAAC in the region.
STATE VAT GENERATED VAT ALLOCATION
1 Abia 2.290b 20.020b
2 Adamawa 3.689b 22.260b
3 Akwa Ibom 8.390 27.749b
4 Anambra 5.938b 25.001b
5 Bauchi 5.309b 25.613b
6 Bayelsa 12.536b 17.659b
7 Benue 1.268b 24.527b
8 Borno 3.442b 25.896b
9 Cross River 2.347b 20.478b
10 Delta 13.964b 27.854b
11 Ebonyi 7.894b 18.768b
12 Edo 8.284b 22.588b
13 Ekiti 6.635b 19.756b
14 Enugu 5.485b 20.729b
15 Gombe 4.028b 17.650b
16 Imo 1.941b 25.111b
17 Jigawa 3.375b 26.369b
18 Kaduna 18.262b 32.726b
19 Kano 24.492b 47.082b
20 Kastina 3.738b 31.539b
21 Kebbi 1.284b 22.162b
22 Kogi 3.286b 22.282b
23 Kwara 3.471b 18.998b
24 Lagos 429.203 b 139.587b
25 Nassarawa 2.495b 16.872b
26 Niger 3.723b 25.042b
27 Ogun 11.823b 25.141b
28 Ondo 4.554b 22.107b
29 Osun 1.995b 24.766b
30 Oyo 64.646b 45.136b
31 Plateau 5.208b 21.433b
32 Rivers 90.293b 46.270b
33 Sokoto 4.978b 24.219b
34 Taraba 1.756b 18.469b
35 Yobe 9.445b 20.525b
36 Zamfara 598.133m 35.716bn
37 FCT 235.794bn NOT ELIGIBLE
