Rep member Esosa Iyawe’s motion urges FIRS action on N5.19tr unremitted taxes

Hon. Esosa Iyawe has continued to promote decisive legislative actions on the floor of the House of Representatives, after moving a motion to compel the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), to recover over N5.19 trillion worth of taxes unrecovered by the agency from individuals, companies and Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government.

Iyawe, who represents Oredo Federal Constituency in Edo State at the Green Chamber, stands out for initiating motions critical to national economic development. The lawmaker raised an alarm over the economic sabotage by individuals, companies and MDAs, in the motion titled: Alleged Non-Remittance and Under-Remittance of Tax by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of Government, Oil Companies and Other Organisations.

He stressed that taxes are ways government regulate economic and commercial activities and ensure availability of funds for sustainable national development, hence the establishment of the Federal Inland Revenue Service Act, 2004, which empowers the FIRS for the core purpose of assessing, collecting, remitting and accounting for the federation’s taxes.

While moving the motion, Iyawe drew attention to 2021, when during an interactive session with a committee in the National Assembly, the FIRS revealed that the sum of Seventeen Billion, Six Hundred and Ninety Million, Three Hundred and Forty-One Thousand, Five Hundred and Sixty-Five Naira (N17, 690,341,565), was being owed in tax by some companies in Nigeria whose addresses could not be traced, and till date, nothing has been done to locate the recalcitrant companies or recover the funds.

Iyawe further raised concern about audit reports for  2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, which indicted some government agencies for owing hundreds of billions in FIRS taxes comprising under-payments and under-recoveries, while another report alleged that over 5,000 companies and individuals spread across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government, were owing the sum of Five Trillion, Two Hundred Billion (N5.2 Trillion) Naira in withholding taxes.

Iyawe expressed worry over the under-remittance and non-remittance of tax, lamenting that it deprive the Federal Government of much needed funds to drive its policies for national development. The lawmaker said if the situation is not urgently addressed, its effect could be devastating on the country’s already dwindling economy.

Iyawe bemoaned the multiple taxation regime on small-scale businesses in Nigeria by various authorities, while multinationals and big corporations either pay token as taxes or evade taxes.

Consequently, the House of Representatives adopted the motion and urge the FIRS to, as a matter of urgency, embark on the immediate recovery of all taxes owed the Federal Government by MDAs, oil companies, as well as other corporate organisations and individuals. Also, it mandated the Committee on Public Account and the Committee on Finance to investigate the non-compliance on tax remittance by MDAs, oil companies and other organisations, with a view to ensuring that all debts in taxes owed the Federal Government are duly recovered.