The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has described the N21.70 trillion revenue recorded in 2024 by the Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS) as the fulfilment of a promise by President Bola Tinubu to raise collectable revenues without increasing the tax burden on Nigerians.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, the group noted that the record earnings by FIRS’ new leadership reflected the Tinubu administration’s unwavering commitment to improving revenue generation and collection.
It said: ” When in July 2023, the then special adviser on revenue to President Bola Tinubu, Zach Adedeji, now FIRS Executive Chairman, announced federal government’s plan to double the nation’s revenue within three years, many saw it as a pipe dream.
“He had boldly announced the intention of the Bola Tinubu administration to raise its revenue target to N30 trillion without adding new taxes at a time the country was generating N15 trillion from all sectors with a budget of N21.83 trillion for 2023.
“So in the first full year of the administration, the government projected an estimated revenue of N18.32 trillion for the 2024 budget of N28.7 trillion, but it is now confirmed that FIRS alone raked in N21.70 trillion which is a 76 per cent increase from the N12.474 trillion it generated in 2023. That figure is also N2.1 trillion more than FIRS’ N19.4 trillion target for the year.
“As a matter of fact, the N21.70 trillion that FIRS alone generated in 2024 is almost the size of the entire 2023 national budget of N21.8 trillion.
”This is also about N7 trillion shy of the 2024 budget, a feat which development analysts have described as good music to the ears more so at a time when the federal government needs all the revenue to execute its several noble people-oriented programmes. It is a very inspiring feat.
“So we agree with the Executive Chairman of FIRS that this is no mean feat when one considers that it was recorded without any increase in taxes at any level.
“Also interesting in the breakdown is the revelation that non-oil taxes increased by 97 per cent while oil taxes went up by 35 per cent when compared to the 2023 figure.
“In scrutinizing the record-breaking collection, we discovered how improved infrastructure and cutting edge tax technology became the game changer, particularly the more expanded use of TaxProMax introduced in 2021, as well as modern organisational reforms created by a conducive ease of doing business and an attractive tax collection climate promoted by the Tinubu administration for businesses to thrive and pay taxes willingly.”
TMSG added that it would be interesting to see FIRS’ improved performance when the tax reform bills currently before the National Assembly become law.
“We are aware that one of the four tax reform bills seeks to change FIRS to the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and empower it with the responsibilities ‘to assess, collect, and account for revenue accruable to the government of the federation.’
“For us, this move will go a long way to eliminating inefficiencies while blocking leakages by consolidating revenue collection under a single agency.
“And knowing that the tax reform bills include measures to increase the tax on the rich and wealthy while reducing that of low-income earners and small businesses, we are optimistic that the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio will move closer to 15 per cent which is widely considered a significant benchmark from the current level of 10.86 per cent which is even low by African standard.
“It, therefore makes sense that the Tinubu administration opted for a more ambitious budget of N49.74 trillion for 2025, which is a 41.91 per cent increase on that of 2024 and a revenue expectation of N36.35 trillion.
“We anticipate a greater performance from FIRS as well as other revenue-generating agencies this year,” it added.
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