FIRS ordered to sanction taxpayers who can’t access IT

By ISAAC ANUMIHE, Abuja

Federal Government has ordered the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to sanction noncompliant taxpayers refusing access to information technology (IT) systems.

Speaking during a public presentation of the approved 2022 Budget, in Abuja, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, said that FIRS may deploy both proprietary and third-party technology applications to collect information from taxpayers.

FIRS should “introduce turnover tax on fair and reasonable percentage of profits earned from providing digital services to Nigerian customers” she said.

Meanwhile, the government will spend N462 billion, being 3 per cent of the 2022 Budget, for social
investments / poverty reduction
programme.

Similarly, defence and security sector will gulp N2.29 trillion which is 13.4 per cent of the budget.

“The amount is provisioned for
the military, police, intelligence and para-military (recurrent and capital” the minister, said.

Also, infrastructure has N1.42 trillion which is 8.3 per cent of the budget, she said, adding that infrastructure include, works and housing, power (inclusive of Power Sector Recovery Operations (PSRP) provisions), transport, water resources,

On debt sustainability, the minister further noted that the government is making efforts to fix the revenue challenge, because cutting expenditure is not
currently a viable option, as the public expenditure /Gross Domestic Products (GDP) ratio is also the lowest among Africa’s leading economies.

“We must, however, continue to rationalise our expenditures as we cannot afford waste; In reality, our largest expenditure items are currently personnel cost, debt
service and capital expenditure, which between them account for 85 per cent of the 2022 Budget; There is very little scope for cut in any of these over the medium term;

“The most viable solution to our fiscal challenge therefore remains to grow our revenues and plug all leakages.

“Our target over the medium term is to grow our revenue-to-GDP ratio from about 8-9 per cent currently to 15 per cent by 2025. At that level of revenues, the debt service-to-revenue ratio will cease to be a critical concern” she said. (Sunday Sun)