The Borno State Government has rolled out plans to Increase Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by introducing three new taxes.
According to the state government, the taxes are on consumption, entertainment and presumptive tax (CEPT), which will in turn lead to the rise of the state IGR.
Chairman of Borno State Board of Internal Revenue Service (BIRS), Mohammed Alkali, while unveiling the new taxes Thursday in Maiduguri, said technologies have been deployed in ‘revenue and tax collection’ to block leakages in the formal and informal sectors of the economy.
He pointed that the harmonised revenue law has been passed by the state House of Assembly for 2021 implementation.
Alkali said the increased IGR will be used to finance developmental projects across the 27 council areas of the state.
This revelation has however, allayed the fears of residents of the state that the state government was planning to increase taxes this year to finance government projects and programmes.
Alkali said, “We are not increasing any tax rates this year as being speculated in some quarters,” insisting that the new tax policy is being enforced in the transport and business sectors.
He said the state government is not unmindful of the economic challenges the citizens and businessmen are facing amid the Boko Haram insurgency and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alkali also called on the people to meet their tax requirements in rebuilding the over a decade-long insurgency ravaged state.
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