Lagos, FCT, Rivers top list as Nigerians pay N1.23 trillion tax revenue to states

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, the data from the states’ internally generated revenue report showed that the figure represents a 19.19 percent increase from the N1.03 trillion paid in 2020.

These taxes included: Pay As You Earn, direct assessment, road taxes, and other taxes paid by residents within a state.

The report further revealed that Lagos residents paid the highest tax revenue with N405.08 billion, the FCT residents came behind with N131.93 billion paid in taxes while residents of Rivers state came in third place with N115.74 billion.

Other states where residents paid a significantly higher amount in taxes are Delta - N70.78 billion, and Ogun - N36.72 billion. The states that received the least taxes from residents include Ekiti - N7.55 billion, Kebbi - N7.39 billion, Abia - N6.51 billion, Yobe - N6.09 billion, and Taraba- N4.54 billion.

When a cumulative source of the states’ IGR was determined, it was revealed that in 2020, tax revenues accounted for 66.16 percent of the states’ IGR of N1.56tn trillion while in 2021, it accounted for 64.88 per cent of N1.89 trillion IGR.

According to BudgiT, a data firm, the 36 states of the federation witnessed a rebound from the effects of the fiscal shocks that accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic year which had tumbled a lot of economies globally.

The rebound saw the cumulative revenues of the states grow from N4.69 trillion earned in 2020 to N5.12 trillion in 2021 thus indicating a 9.19 percent increase.

The aggregated Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the 36 states also showed a 33.66 percent year-on-year growth, from N1.2 trillion in 2020 to N1.61 trillion in 2021.