Ekiti State has emerged top in improved Internally Generated Revenue among the 36 states of the federation, according to a recent report released during the week.
In the report circulated by the Joint Tax Board at its 155th meeting in Suleja, Niger State, Ekiti State ranked first in the 2023 Annual Growth Rate Ranking.
The state’s IGR, according to the report, increased from N17.03bn in 2022 to N29.82bn in 2023, representing a 75 per cent growth rate.
“The improvement is attributed to enhanced reporting and significant growth in IGR by the state. The obviously good performance of the Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji is believed to have endeared him to taxpayers leading to improved voluntary compliance
“Ekiti State also moved up to 16th position in the Total Collections Ranking from its previous ranking of one of the worst five.
“Under the Direct Assessment Parameters, the dynamism of Ekiti State Internal Revenue Service is evident as Ekiti State improved from 33rd to 15th position. The State also ranked 25th in Withholding Tax collections and 28th in MDA collections,” part of the report read.
Speaking on the development, the Chairman of Ekiti State Internal Revenue Service, Olanitan Olatona, expressed the hope that all MDAs would improve their collections and reporting to improve on the statistics in the future.
Olatona said while the state government had not introduced new taxes in the state, it had effectively deployed technology to block leakages and ease the mode of payment.
