The Federal Government has refuted speculations it plans to increase the Value Added Tax (VAT) and other taxes in its proposed Finance Bill.
Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, who spoke while defending the Ministry’s budget before the Senate Committee on Finance in Abuja, dismissed the claims of an imminent increase in VAT and other taxes in the proposed Finance Bill to be presented to the National Assembly soon.
The Nation reports implementation of the increase in VAT from five per cent to 7.5 per cent took off in January 2020 after President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Finance Bill, 2019 into law.
Ahmed said: “There will be no increase in VAT or any form of taxes because we see 2021 as a year of recovery – not only for government but businesses as well.”
Account General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, who was also at the session, complained about poor budgetary allocation to his office.
Idris said: “We have 37 offices all in dire need of rehabilitation. In particular, the Mosaic House in Lagos where the office of the Accountant General was sited before. That office is a huge property that can be utilised to generate revenue.
“It is being occupied by unwanted elements. If it is rehabilitated, it will go a long way in boosting revenue because it is in the heart of the commercial city.
“We are grossly underfunded. We are being treated like any other MDA. We know the constraints but we can be better in terms of our ability to meet expectations and needs of the Nigerian economy.”