Fubara Urges JTB To Promote Cooperation Among Tax Agencies

Rivers State governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has called on the Joint Tax Board (JTB) to promote cooperation among tax authorities in the 36 states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Fubara made the call yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, while declaring open the 156th quarterly meeting of the board with the theme: “Opportunities and Strategies for Improved Taxation of High Networth Individuals in Nigeria”.

The governor stated that he would appreciate it if the JTB would also promote training, peer review and best practices in internal revenue service in each of the states in the country.
He said: “I have to accept the invitation to declare this meeting open because issues tackled are very crucial or critical to the socio-economic development of our country.

“Promotion of cooperation amongst tax authorities across the country and the provision of training, peer review and best practices in state internal revenue service in each of the states will be appreciated.

“We also want to commend you for the consistent effort towards ensuring that the nation’s tax system is viable, efficient and effective. As a state, we are willing to cooperate with you to strengthen the state internal revenue services.”

Speaking with journalists, JTB chairman, Dr. Zacch Adedeji said the theme of the meeting was very important as personal income tax is a major source of revenue to states in the country.

Adedeji, who was represented by the Coordinating Director, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mohammed Lawal Abubakar, stated that the outcome of the meeting will determine how effectively to carry out the task on high networth individuals in the country.

He said: “As a major source of revenue to the states, personal income tax, which high-net-worth individuals fall into, is very important, and that is why we have dedicated this meeting to discussing in detail how we can effectively carry out this task on this particular individuals in this country.”

In his opening remarks, acting chairman of the Rivers Internal Revenue Service (RIRS), Dr. Chibeoso Aholu, who said Rivers State was hosting the JTB meeting for the first time in the history of the state, thanked the state governor for allowing the state to host the quarterly meeting.