Kano State has thrashed all five South-eastern States in value-added tax (VAT) collection for the first eight months of 2021.
According to a report published yesterday, the VAT revenue records of the federal tax agency, the Federal Inland Revenue Service, (FIRS), indicate that Kano raised N24.4 billion, ahead of the five States that have accumulated a collection of N20 billion.
The report is coming in the wake of a raging VAT dispute, legal fireworks and political negotiations between the Federal government and some States across the country.
The data further revealed that Kaduna State, with a cumulative N19 billion, also did better than Akwa Ibom – N9.3 billion; Bayelsa – N13 billion; Delta – N13 billion; Edo – N9 billion and Ogun – N11 billion.
For example, Kaduna’s N19.8 billion is greater than the combined collection of Abia, Cross-River, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and Imo States.
Abia, according to the graph, collected N2.2 bn, representing 0.22%; Cross-River collected N1.9 bn, or 0.19%; Osun raised N2.07 bn, or 0.20; Ekiti made N6.2 bn, or 0.62; Ondo collected N4.8 bn, or 0.48%, while Imo collected N1.01 billion or 0.10%.
Yobe, in the North-East, raised N9.3bn by rubbing shoulders with Akwa Ibom (N9.3bn), Edo (N9bn), Ebonyi (N7.2bn) and Ekiti (N6.2bn). Lagos and the CTF, combined, contributed 65.22% of the total, while the remaining 35 States contributed 34.78% of the total.
Statistics show that Lagos States leads the rankings, with 41.5% of the total VAT, amounting to N421.2 billion, while Zamfara collected the fewest records, N762.5 million, or 0.08% of the total sum. Lagos is followed by the FCT, which collected N241bn, or 23.74%; Rivers collected N92.3bn, or 9.09%, while Oyo followed, with N61 billion, representing 6.01%.
