LAGOS: The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said it surpassed its 2014 target by N400 billion or 9.32 per cent, generating about N4.69 trillion in Federal Government taxes.
According to its quarterly revenue report released in Abuja, the revenue derived from a combination of petroleum profit and non-oil taxes, including income tax, gas income, capital gain tax, stamp duty and Value Added Tax (VAT), was, however, N106 billion less than previous year’s N4.80 trillion.
A breakdown of the figure revealed that petroleum profit tax was the cash cow, contributing N2.45 trillion, or 52.96 per cent of total revenue, while the remaining N2.24 trillion, or 47.04 per cent, was collected from non-oil taxes.
Of the non-oil taxes, N1.18 trillion was collected from company income tax, followed by N802.95 billion in VAT collections, comprising Nigeria Customs Service Import VAT and Non-Import VAT, during the period. Another N10.83 billion came from gas income, N2.59 billion from capital gain tax and N10.94 billion from stamp duty during the review period.
Other non-oil taxes collected within the year, the report continued, included Education Tax, N189.61 billion; N53.28 billion from Consolidated Account and N9.91 billion from National Information Technology Development Fund (NITDEF) levy.
A further breakdown showed that the 2014 second quarter collections were the highest at N1.45 trillion, followed by N1.19 trillion the following quarter, while the first quarter yielded N1.05 trillion and N1.0 trillion between October and December.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the Nigerian capital market, rose from a one-day dialogue on “Capital Market and the 2015 Federal Budget” with a challenge to government to further see the market as a veritable source of financing the infrastructure component of the budget and the entire economy in the most cost effective manner.
This, they noted, had become even more necessary today when the global economic dynamics require innovative thinking at a time of reduced government revenue and a drastic drop in the cost of crude oil, the nation’s mainstay.
Speaking at the event organised by trade groups such as the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON) and the Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria (AIHN) in Lagos, Acting Director-General of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwazo, challenged market operators formulate “clear, actionable ways in which the capital market could be better leveraged by our governments (at both Federal and State levels) to finance infrastructure.”
He said there was more that can be extract from domestic bond market, for example, where in the nine years between 2005 and last year, the Federal Government raised about N6.85 trillion.
This is possible, he continued, particularly in the current budgetary constraints facing the nation, if stakeholders “brainstorm on innovative ways the capital market can be leveraged to fund development within the budgetary framework.
He urged participants at the dialogue to “structure more innovative products including infrastructure bonds and securitisation.” “To boost housing we must hasten the take-off of mortgage-backed securities after the activities of the Mortgage Refinancing Company of Nigeria have led to a higher housing stock,” he said.
Nigeria, Gwarzo continued, is not spared the downbeat of the situation where the global economy is expected to grow at 3.8 per cent in 2015 as against the earlier forecast of 3.9 per cent, amidst palpable fear of “deflation” within the Eurozone where growth remains just above 1 per cent.
