Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and chairman, S/West govs' Forum
Sept. 18, 2021
Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has described the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) by state governments as a settled deal.
He believes those resisting the collection of VAT by states in place of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) would fail, despite the court order directing parties in the dispute to maintain status quo pending the determination of the suit before it.
“Our states’ position is that having looked at the law, it is there clearly for us to see that taxation, or what we call consumption taxes, falls within the purview of a state, and only a state can charge consumption taxes,” said the governor who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“And I believe that those who are against it know of it. If they don’t know, people will not be rushing to the National Assembly for an amendment that will not see the light of the day; it will be dead on arrival.”
Governor Akeredolu spoke a day after he presided over a meeting of the southern governors – as the chairman of the forum – in Enugu State.
At the meeting held on Thursday, the governors reviewed the state of the nation and the progress of implementation of the decisions reached in the previous sittings of the forum.
