Governors from states.of southern part of the country on Thursday declared their support for the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) by state governments, in place of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
The governors said this at a meeting of the Sourthern Governors Forum held at the Government House in Enugu State.
In a communique issued at the meeting, signed by chairman of the forum and Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, the governors resolved to support the position that the collection of VAT falls within the powers of the states.
The governor also said they remain committed to fiscal federalism and stressed the need for the southern states to pursue its inclusion in the Nigerian Constitution, through the ongoing constitutional amendment.
The forum asked states to leverage the legislative competence of their respective State Houses of Assembly and their representatives in the National Assembly to achieve their objectives.
On the 2023 elections, the governors insisted that the next presient of Nigerian must come from the South.
They commended the rate at which members were enacting the law prohibiting the open grazing of cattle in line with the uniform template and called on others yet to do so to follow suit.
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE reports that
a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt had last month issued an order restraining the FIRS from collecting VAT and personal income tax (PIT) in Rivers state, an order that was appealed by FIRS at the Court of Appeal.
The appellate court while delivering a ruling on Friday, ordered parties in the suit to maintain the “status quo ante bellum” and ”refrain from taking any action to give effect to the judgement of the Rivers state high court,” which had earlier given Rivers state government the right to collect VAT revenue, instead of the FIRS.
