Governor Aminu Masari says his state, Katsina, is appealing against a recent ruling by the Rivers Division of the Federal High Court, which held that the Rivers government should take charge of collecting Value-Added Tax (VAT) in the state instead of the Federal Government.
Masari described the judgment as “unfair” while a delegation from the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) paid him a sensitisation visit at the Government House on August 31.
The governor said:
We have heard the judgment of the State High Court in Rivers, and we have appealed against that judgment.
The court had, on August 9, issued an order restraining the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) from collecting VAT and Personal Income Tax (PIT) in Rivers State after the state government filed a case against the agency and the attorney general of the federation over illegalities.
While citing a section of the 1999 constitution, Wike’s administration sought that the power to collect taxes be exercised by the state government.
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The court, presided by Justice Stephen Pam, in its judgment, noted that the Rivers State Government and not FIRS was authorised to collect VAT.
Wike, days after the court ruling, signed into law the bill on VAT collection in the state, noting that the court addressed the illegalities perpetrated by the FIRS on behalf of the federal government.
Wike, while reacting to the development, stated that:
States have been turned to beggars, hardly will any day pass that you will not see one state or others going to Abuja to beg for one fund.
This, however, did not sit well with Masari, who said it would not be implemented in Katsina, just as he argued that it would trigger a burden on people.
It means people will begin to pay double VAT because if you pay VAT in Kano at the point of departure when you come to Katsina, you will pay another VAT.
If you pay VAT in Lagos, it means you will also pay VAT all along the way until you reach your destination. It will bring a lot of burden on the people. That judgment is not fair.
It is other parts of the country that make Lagos and Rivers states what they are.
We have to work together as a nation and come up with something that will work for all of us.