Ogun Reveals Plan To Enact VAT Law

Ogun State has hinted that it will go the way of Rivers and Lagos in enactment of the controversial Value Added Tax, VAT law.

Ogun House of Assembly speaker, Olakunle Oluomo dropped the hint in an interview he granted Punchng.com wherein he said the state was in the process of following in the footsteps of Rivers and Lagos in the VAT matter.

“We are already working on the VAT law for Ogun State. If not for the recess, you would have seen actions on it but by the time we resume next week, you will see actions on it. The VAT law would have the same treatment as the Anti-Open Grazing Bill. You know we passed our anti-open grazing bill into law on July 8,” Oluomo told the paper.

There has been controversy over who is empowered by law to collect VAT, hitherto a preserve of Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, before a Federal High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt ruled in favour Rivers and the state enacted a law that empowered it to be the collector of the consumption tax.

Lagos then ran with the judgement to enact the same law.

However, an order of an appeal court approached by FIRS directed the three parties to maintain status quo.