The need to review some old laws, that have to do with land administration and payment of relevant taxes into the Ogun State Government coffers, has been identified as one of the ways to expand the State tax net, towards improving revenue generation.
This came to the fore during the courtesy visit of the Executive Chairman of the Ogun State Internal Revenue Service (OGIRS), Mr. Olugbenga Olaleye to the Director-General, Bureau of Lands and Survey (BLS), Mr. Aina Salami in Abeokuta.
Olaleye said the Bureau and OGIRS needed to work together on best ways to adjust old laws in a realistic phenomenon that would be sensitive to masses’ feelings, considering the present economic development to drive adequate revenue for the State government.
“Land plays important role in revenue generation, we need to discuss, work together to support the government initiatives. OGIRS operates as the law stipulates, but there is need to re-adjust some moribund laws to drive revenue”, he said.
While pointing out that those laws had been enacted years back and were no longer relevant to the present economic reality, Olaleye said when they are reviewed, a lot of taxable resident adults in the State that were not yet in the tax net would be captured.
The Chairman noted that when the two agencies synergise, transactions and payment of appropriate taxes in relation to land matters would be seamless, and the Bureau would be able to pass the right information to clients for better understanding on the reason behind every payment, which would in turn expand the State tax net.
According to him, OGIRS focus was on ease of doing business in the State, in an proper manner, ensure all residents taxable adults pay appropriate taxes as and when due within the ambit of the law, adding that taxpayers were always assessed based on the income they earned.
In his remark, the Director-General, BLS, Salami said the move to collaborate with OGIRS became imperative to support the government in its revenue drive, to enable taxable adults be properly assessed, valued and captured with the use of Geographic Information System (GIS), domiciled in the Bureau.
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