The Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, said Lagos State monthly gets over N200 billion from MTN Nigeria in Value Added Tax, VAT.
Oyedele disclosed this while speaking as a panellist during Channels Television’s Town Hall on Tax Reforms.
This, he said, when he was faulting the current VAT distribution system, saying the country’s biggest telco paid the sum to Lagos State, where the company’s headquarters is located, despite the fact that the services that generate this revenue are consumed nationwide.
“MTN is the largest contributor to VAT in Nigeria. So they, in fact, pay VAT of over N200bn every month; the gap between them and number two is huge.
“Today, all the VAT paid by MTN is credited and attributed to Lagos State, even as calls are made in Kano, the FCT, Ekiti, Edo, or Kebbi,” he argued.
For context, part of the reform bill proposes adjustments to ensure a more equitable distribution of VAT revenues across states based on actual consumption rather than the location of corporate headquarters.
If the proposal sails through the bottleneck of opposition, Oyedele added it would bring general benefits: “This adjustment ensures that states where the VAT is generated get their fair share.
“When you analyse the data, you see Lagos State’s share reduces slightly, but every other state gains.”
