Rush To Amend VAT Law At NASS Will Fail -Akeredolu

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has said there is a rush to the National Assembly to amend the law on Value Added Tax, VAT.

The governor raised the alarm while speaking in an interview on Channels Television after he presided over a meeting with his Southern colleagues who agreed that states should collect VAT.

Speaking, Akeredolu expressed the belief that those resisting the collection of VAT by states in place of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) would fail.

According to him, “Our (the states’) position is that having looked at the law, it is there clearly for us to see that taxation, or what we call consumption taxes, falls within the purview of a state, and only a state can charge consumption taxes.

“And I believe that those who are against it know of it. If they don’t know, people will not be rushing to the National Assembly for an amendment that will not see the light of the day; it will be dead on arrival.”

This is as he revealed that the resolution on VAT reached by the governors is not a new position.

He added, “What we did yesterday was to go back to our position in the Asaba Declaration.

“In Asaba, we made it very clear without mincing words that we are committed to the practice of true federalism; that is all we are saying, and fiscal federalism is part of true federalism.

“So, there is no need for us to run away from it. There are many more states that will join and there are some that will not join because at the end of the day, whatever we arrive at, they will be binding on all the states and what the southern governors have resolved is not new.”