FG Mulls New Tax On Coke, Bigi, Other Soft Drinks

According to Ahmed, the government is working on maximising existing revenue streams while trying to identify new revenue streams.

Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, says the federal government is considering introducing excise duty on carbonated drinks.

The minister made this known while addressing journalists on the sidelines of the ongoing annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group.

Excise duty is a levy placed on the manufacture and sale of locally produced goods.

Information provided on the Nigeria Customs Service website shows that excise is currently placed on non-alcoholic beverages, fruit juices, beer, stout and alcoholic beverages.

According to Ahmed, the government is working on maximising existing revenue streams while trying to identify new revenue streams.

“Our objective is to be able to harness the existing revenue streams that we have by ensuring that enforcement is effective to expand the tax base and also to identify new revenue streams that we can add to expand the revenue base,” she said.

“So in expanding the revenue base, we have proposed the increase of VAT but there are also other revenue streams that we are looking at and some of them include the introduction of excise duties on carbonated drinks but there is a process to doing these things.