The Plateau Government on Monday said it planned to collect N13.5 billion from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in 2016.

The Acting Chairman, Plateau State Internal Revenue Service (PSIRS), Mr Dashe Arlat, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos that the service would generate N9 billion while the rest would come from MDAs.

The chairman said: “The N13.5 billion target is our realistic budget for this year, which we are determined and committed to meet by God’s grace.

“We are embarking on intensive collaboration with all stakeholders such as the MDAs and the 17 local government areas, to ensure that the substantial revenue target is raised.

“In fact, there are large numbers of tax payers, both in the formal and informal sectors, that have not been captured and we have begun to register them to meet up their obligations, ’’ he said.

Arlat said that PSISRS was targeting more than 700,000 individual tax payers from whom the service would generate nothing less than N4.2 billion.

“We are going all out by Wednesday to engage these set of individuals in their own environments to widen our tax net, ’’ the acting chairman said.

He said that the service intended to engage some agents to assist in its revenue generation.

The chairman explained that with the global economic recession biting hard on nations and governance, Plateau Government was all out to generate substantial IGR to enable it to meet its obligations to the people.

Arlat said that the service was determined to improve on its transparency in tax administration through the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT).

“We are going to strengthen strict implementation of tax laws and regulations and strengthen compliance to the various initiatives introduced.

“PSIRS is organising a forum with stakeholders on Feb. 25, tagged,“ Stakeholders round table engagement on tax,’’ aimed at sensitising them to our revenue drive,’’ he said.

He said that some federal institutions in the state had defaulted in their obligations to the service running into several billions of Naira.

According to him, in as much as PSIRS has been given a special tribunal for the trial of tax offenders, “we don’t encourage the use of force but gentlemanly approach to get our tax”.

The chairman appealed to all tax payers to be law abiding and pay their taxes to avoid the wrath of the law and maintain their dignity in the society. (NAN)

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Plateau Govt. targets N13.5bn IGR in 2016