RSG Pledges Tax-Friendly Economy …Projects N15bn Monthly IGR

The Rivers State Government has promised to run a tax-friendly economy, saying that it had evolved a process to eliminate multiple taxation with a bid to promote economic development and growth.
Executive Chairman, Rivers State Internal Revenue Service (RSIRS), Chief Adoage Norteh, who spoke, last Monday, in his office in Port Harcourt, noted that the administration of Governor Nyesom Wike had elected to be tax-friendly to achieve voluntary compliance from residents and investors.
He said the new board had recorded what he described as modest improvement over what it inherited as internally generated revenue, adding that in the last three months, the state had generated far more than what it did in the last 10 years.
According to Norteh, “We have made a modest improvement over what we met on ground. We are yet to tap the tax potentials of the state very well. We have moved from N6billion plus to N8billion plus, and in another month N9billion plus. I can say that what we have done in the last three months so far is more than what we got in the last 10 years,” he said.
He advised residents and businesses to endeavour to pay their taxes regularly, noting that if they failed, what they will pay when caught would be far higher in the end.
“The thing about taxes is that you can keep running but it will catch up with you, and you suffer more penalty. Your taxes accumulate if you don’t pay as at when due, that is why we encourage people to pay early.”
Norteh said he was certain that the state could generate between N12billion to N15billion monthly, adding that the new board of the revenue service was already working towards achieving it.
He assured companies doing business in the state that though the law permits the Internal Revenue Service to seal up defaulting firms to collect its taxes, but it will not seal up places unnecessarily.
The IRS boss also said that the board had eliminated touting from the tax payment system, advising that nobody should pay cash or issue cheque to anyone as tax, as there were designated bank accounts for payment of taxes, adding that the accounts automatically- generated receipts.