Imo State Government, yesterday, disclosed that it had initiated a reform process to enhance its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for the next six months in the first instance before reviewing the outcome.

Commissioner for Finance, Dr Doris Anite, stated this at the Second Tax Annual Dialogue organised by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in collaboration with the Joint Tax Board (JTB).

Anite, who also has the mandate of coordinating the state’s economy, said to realise the goal, the state government had initiated a policy of incentives focused on encouraging revenue collectors, which she said would yield positive results.

Speaking on Tax Harmonisation For Enhanced Revenue Generation, Anite said: “The incentive system is a major area we need to look at and come up with the right policies to encourage collections,” and stressed the need for harmonisation of taxes to achieve optimum utilisation and results in tax drive and administration.

She also emphasised the need to incentivise the system, while advocating proper revenue attribution to encourage more collaboration from government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

Anite pointed out that the deployment of the right electronic technology in all sectors of the state’s economy, would achieve visibility of transactions, including education fees and collection of levies.

“Through the deployment of the right technology in all sectors, rewards in terms of IGR would soon be visible for all education levies under examination development fees through our electronic platforms. It used to be collected manually. Our universities will put on a payment portal. However, it is still work in progress,” she stated.

Commenting on what she met on ground and what she was doing to enhance the system, Anite said: “When I came in as Commissioner for Finance and Coordinator of the Economy, my job was to take care of internally generated revenue. So, I had to engage the MDAs.

“We started by looking at their performances and what their revenue targets should be based on certain matrix that we put in place. This was to determine the right taxes and who should collect what.”

Speaking further, she said: “To make it easy, we decided to have a central technological platform that would access and generate demand notices. The Imo Internal Revenue Service (IIRS) sees what is being collected and enforces compliance.

“In engaging with the MDAs, we found out that there was willingness to support the revenue system, but they kept asking, how do you incentivise us? And so, the incentive system is a major area we need to review and come up with the right policies to encourage collections.”