IBADAN - The Oyo State Government says it will extend its tax net to the informal sector in order to achieve the objectives of its 2012 budget.
The state’s Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Dr Nurudeen Olarinde, announced this on Thursday in Ibadan while presenting the state’s budget analysis.
Olarinde said that less than 40 per cent of the collectible taxes were being currently collected in the state, adding that the informal sector was completely left out of the tax net.
He said that the 2012 budget of N160. 5billion was expected to attract N50.4 billion from the Federation Account.
This amount, he said, represented 32 per cent of the total revenue estimate and indicated that the state was still largely dependent on the Federal Government for survival.
The commissioner, who said the state government was not comfortable with this position, pledged that the State Board of Internal Revenue would be strengthened for better performance.
He said Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) would be increased from its present N1.5billion to N2billion per month while government would also collect ICT tax in addition to the establishment of a one stop shop for tax collection.
Olarinde also said that the state would spend N40.2billion as personnel cost during the year following the approval of the N18,000 minimum wage.
He said the new wage would be fully implemented for all workers in the state, noting that only workers from grade level 1 to 6 were currently being paid the new salary structure.
The commissioner also said that the state expected an upward review of the revenue allocation from the Federation Account in 2012 based on plans to deregulate the down stream sector of the petroleum industry and oil subsidy removal.
Olarinde reiterated that the focus of the budget was to ensure socio-economic transformation of the state, saying the N17.7billion allocated to “ flagship sectors’’ was deliberate.
Reports say that Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Dec. 20 unveiled a N160.5billion fiscal proposal christened: Budget of Restoration.’’
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