Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State says more residents of the state are now voluntarily paying their taxes and levies to the government, with a positive effect on state revenues.
Ambode told media executives in Lagos on Thursday that this was partly because the state government was spending money to create tax awareness.
Aside from this, he said that people in the state were also seeing their taxes working for them.
“Many of them now walk to the Tax Offices on their own, to voluntarily pay their taxes because they have been able to see for themselves what we have been able to do with revenues generated from taxes and levies,” the governor said.
He said that Lagos State had survived mainly on internally-generated revenue (IGR).
“It represents two-thirds of our total revenue.
“We are trying to make the people of Lagos State become aware that if they pay more taxes, the state government would be able to do much more for them,” Ambode said.
The governor said that the state government had a monthly wage bill of about N9 billion.
He recalled that the state government paid out about N700 million as compensation to property owners at Oshodi, and N500 million to those at Abule-Egba.
“Compensation to property owners around the planned flyover at Pen Cinema, Agege may gulp up to N1 billion.
“It is not that these property owners have the appropriate documents, but we have just been trying to be humane,” the governor said.
On Lake Rice, which is being sold at N12, 000 per bag, Ambode said that the product was being subsidized, “because it is consumed by all”.
“We are only trying to create a paradigm shift,” he said.
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