The National Bureau of Statistics released the Value Added Tax sectoral distribution report for the third quarter of this year with the country recording a total VAT revenue of N250.56bn.

When compared with the N246.3bn VAT revenue that was generated in the second quarter of this year, the N250.56bn represents an increase of 1.73 per cent.

In the report signed by the Statistician General of the Federation and Chief Executive, NBS, Dr. Yemi Kale, the bureau said the manufacturing sector, with N28.98bn, generated the highest amount of VAT revenue within the period.

The report stated that the manufacturing sector was closely followed by professional services and oil-producing sectors, with both generating N22.73bn and N12.09bn, respectively.

On the other hand, the report added that the mining sector generated the least VAT of N33.7m in the third quarter.

Other sectors that generated the lowest VAT revenue were the local government councils, with N184.42m; and pharmaceutical, soaps and toiletries, with N193.7m, respectively.

“Sectoral distribution of VAT data for Q3 2017 reflected that the sum of N250.56bn was generated as VAT in Q3 2017 as against N246.30bn generated in Q2 2017 and N196.70bn in Q3 2016,” the report read in part.

The framework under which VAT is administered allows the Federal Government to get 15 per cent of revenue from the tax, while the states and local governments receive 50 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, had last week said the Federal Government was committed to aggressively growing the tax revenue base in order to drive economic growth.

She had stated, “Revenue mobilisation is key to national growth and critical to the success of Nigeria’s economic reform agenda. We have an unacceptably low level of non-oil revenue and much of that is driven by a failure to collect tax revenues.

“With a tax to Gross Domestic Product ratio of only six per cent, which is one of the lowest levels in the world, we have a lot of work to do if we are going to build a sustainable revenue base that will deliver inclusive growth. Improving VAT and other tax collections is key to Nigeria’s revenue strategy.”

She gave an assurance that the Federal Government would continue to collaborate with state governments as part of its determined efforts to grow the non-oil revenue base, including raising the VAT collection to N100bn monthly.

Source- THE PUNCH