The inability of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to meet its revenue targets for 4 years running has landed its chairman, Babatunde Fowler in hot water.
Findings revealed that since the inception of the present administration, the revenue agency had failed to meet its target which serves as the basis for the country’s budget.
In 2015, FIRS netted N3, 741.8-trillion out of a projected target of N4,572.2tn while in 2016, N4.957tn tax target was set but the agency only generated N3.303tn.
In 2017, the FIRS collected a total of N4.027tn, less than the set target of N4.89tn.
In 2018, actual collection was N5.32tn, while the budgeted target was N6.7tn.
Worried by the decline in the revenue collection, the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari in a letter seen by Roots TV Nigeria queried the Executive Chairman of the Agency, Tunde Fowler over discrepancies in Tax collections from 2015 to 2018.
Kyari, in the letter, demanded a comprehensive variance analysis explaining the reasons for the discrepancies between budgeted and actual collections for each main tax item for each of the years 2015 to 2018.
Fowler was given a deadline of August 19, 2019 to respond.
Findings revealed that prior to Fowler’s emergence as FIRS Boss, between 2000 and 2014, the agency only failed to meet its target once, in 2006, as it recorded N1,866.2tn out of a projected target of N3,054.1tn for that year.
In 2000, with a target of N380.5-billion, the agency netted N455.3bn; in 2001, with N500.7bn as its target, it netted N586.6bn; and in 2002, it generated N433.9bn with a target of N396.2bn.
In 2003, it netted N703.1bn, despite a target of N572.9 billion; N1,194.8tn with a target of N800bn in 2004; N1,741.8tn with a target of N1,304.4tn in 2005; and N1,846.9tn with a target of N1,753.3tn in 2007.
In 2008, FIRS netted N2,972.2tn despite a lower target of N2,274.4tn; N2,197.6tn with a target of N1,909.0tn in 2009; and N2,839.3tn with a target of N2,557.3tn in 2010. Also in 2011, it generated N4,628.5tn, a figure higher than its target of N3,639.1tn; and in 2012, it netted N5,007.7tn while it target was placed at N3,635.5tn.
In the same vein, with a revenue target of N4,468.9tn in 2013, the agency generated N4, 805.6tn while it netted N4, 714.6tn in 2014, with a revenue target of N4,086.1tn
