The Nigerian House of Representatives is aiming to pass a Bill pushing for the collection of Value Added Tax(VAT) by State governments.
The bill titled “An Act to Alter 39, Part 1 of the Second Schedule of the 1999 Constitution as Amended to Substitute and Move the Item from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List” is sponsored by Reps Hassan Usman Sokodabo and John Dyegh,the Editor Nigeria reports.
The bill read in part;“The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, is hereby altered as set out. Item 39, part 1 of the Second Schedule of the Principal Act, Altered by substituting the item and moving it from the Exclusive Legislative List, to the Concurrent List.
Thus, item 39, Part 1 of the Second Schedule of the Constitution to be moved to the Concurrent Legislative List now read: States Government shall manage their resources, mines and minerals, including oil fields, oil mining, Values Added Tax(VAT), geological surveys as well as natural gas. 50% of the total revenue accruable from the minerals shall be retained by the state where the minerals are derived.”
“30% shall be credited to the Distributable Pool Account, while the remaining 20%, shall be credited to the Federation Account”.
This development is occurring amidst a supreme court case between the Federal inland revenue service, FIRS and the Rivers state government over the collection of VAT.
