The Plateau Inland Revenue Service (PSIRS) introduced a new system to make it easier to collect taxes.
They called it the Plateau Intelligent Revenue Billing System (PIRBS). They showed it to people in Jos on Thursday.
The boss of PSIRS, Mr Jim Wayas, talked about the system at the launch. He said they would use data to make it work.
They planned to work with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU). They would use things like the National Identity Number (NIN), Bank Verification Number (BVN), and other details to help.
Mr Wayas said, “Without money from taxes, the government can’t do much. It’s like how a person needs blood to work properly.
“We’re trying to help the government make more money, not just from taxes, but from other things too. We made a system where all the money the government gets goes into one place. ”
“This system helps us gather information about people and match it with things like NIN, BVN, where they live, phone numbers, and other details.”
He also said they needed data from everyone in the state to tax properly.
The governor, Caleb Mutfwang, liked the new system. He said, “Money is really important for the government. We haven’t been getting as much money as we should. This is true. So, we need to do better.”
The governor also talked about how prices were going up. He said even the people who work for the tax office wanted more money. But the government couldn’t give them more if they didn’t have it.
He said, “If we want to pay people more, we need to collect more money. We need to find where money is slipping away and get more people to pay taxes.”