The
Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Sen. Gbolahan Dada, has
advocated the automaton of tax
collection in Nigeria.
Dada spoke in
Abuja when a group from Financing for Development (F4D), a joint project of
ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) and OXFAM paid him an advocacy visit.
The group
presented a research finding on private sector taxation policies and practice
of companies to him.
According to
him, when tax collection is done online, it will be easier to monitor and funds
remitted to the appropriate agency.
He also
advised that the government should provide the necessary infrastructure to
encourage Nigerians to pay tax.
Dada suggested
that the new national identity card should carry the details of tax payment for
easier monitoring.
“Most people
do not see the value of paying tax due to lack of infrastructure and some
corporate organisation do not even pay tax at all,’’ he said.
Dada said the
government would not need to borrow money if the country had efficient internal
revenue generation and collection system.
Similarly, Mr
Asishana Okauru, Director General, Nigerian Governors’ Forum, urged the group
to make specific recommendation for each state to enable governors to know peculiar tax issues that affected each
state.
He said the
governors were concerned about the flow of tax revenue from the federal to
state levels.
Okauru said
the Federal Government had a lot of experience
that the states could learn from to improve tax collection.
He said it was
important for government leaders to drive
taxation issues.
“I know of a
state in the years past when the governor would
not see anybody without their tax clearance.
“The country
needs to use professionals for tax collection not just friends and
associates,’’ Okauru said.
Mr Chukwuemeka
Ngene, the leader of the group, said income collected from natural resources,
taxation, borrowing, and grants were some of the revenue sources available to
government to finance development.
Ngene said the
report observed issues in private sector taxation policy and practice in
Nigeria.
He identified
some of the issues as low tax compliance by individuals and private sector
companies in the form of tax evasion, dodging and avoidance.
Ngene also
identified multiple taxes, levies, permits and fees charged citizens as
problems in the tax system.
He said that
multiplicity of taxes discouraged taxpayers and motivated them to seek ways of
evading payment.
Ngene said
multiple taxation sometimes translated to high production costs which were
transferred to consumers in the form of high prices of goods and services.
Ngene further
said that unfavourable business environment impacted the behaviour of taxpayers
just as corruption among tax collectors reduced government revenues.
He said
political corruption also occurred when politicians approved payments for
contracts without deducting relevant taxes.
Ngene also
said that non-profit organisations which transacted profit yielding activities
without paying tax also short-changed the government in terms of revenue
generation.
*The Nation*
0 Comments