The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, has disclosed that the Federal Government is mulling the imposition of excise duties on Coca-Cola and other soft, carbonated drinks produced in the country.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that excise tax is a levy imposed on locally produced goods.
Mrs Ahmed drop the hint on Thursday while speaking with newsmen on Thursday on the sidelines of the ongoing World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings in Washington DC, United States.
According to her, the idea behind the planned imposition is to broaden the government revenue base.
The minister, however, said the government would consult with all stakeholders on the proposal in line with standard policy formulation process.
“Any tax that you are introducing will involve a lot of consultations and also amendments of some laws or introduction of new regulations,” she said.
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Mrs Ahmed added her ministry was working with all the agencies to ensure that collaboration was strengthened in revenue generation.
“The government is trying to ensure that the work of the agencies are complementing each other as opposed to the past where everybody is working in silos.
“Efforts are ongoing to improve the monitoring performance of the revenue-generating agencies, especially government-owned enterprises.
“We have now in place a rigorous monthly reconciliation of revenues and that is ensuring that the leakages are minimised.
“There is several cost-cutting measures in the SRGI and a number of cost-cutting measures initiatives such as innovation and automation as well as capacity building of our people,” she said.
