The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) on Thursday said it generated more than N120 billion from taxation between January and June this year.
The Executive Chairman of the service, Tunde Fowler, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that 90 per cent of the taxes were generated from the organised private sector and civil servants.
Fowler said that the remaining 10 per cent came from the informal sector, mostly market women, artisans, commercial drivers and taxable individuals in the state.
He said the state under Governor Babatunde Fashola had relied on the Internally Generated Revenue to implement its budget following the dwindling statutory allocations.
The chairman said the increase in the IGR to N237 billion in 2013 from N15 billion in 1999 were the fallouts of sustained mobilisation and tax education in the state.
Fowler said: “In 1999, Lagos State generated N15 billion from IGR but last year it increased to N237 billion, an increase of N222 billion within 14 years.
“There has been a steady growth in tax payment in the state.”
He projected that this year’s IGR would improve beyond the previous years.
Fowler also said that any development required money, adding that the IGR would further bridge the statutory allocation from the Federal Government.
He said: “Any transformation will require money and you can’t transform without funding.
“Now that the allocation from the Federal Government is reducing due to drop in oil revenue, we must look elsewhere to meet up with our budget.”
Fowler said the generated revenue would be used to ensure the state had good roads, improve health services and adequate security.
Fowler assured the residents of the state that 200 roads in the state would be repaired before the 2015 tenure expiration of the administration.
The chairman urged the residents to endeavour to pay their taxes regularly, adding that the money was being used to implement the state’s budget.
