Stakeholders at the ongoing Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria in Abuja have called on political officer holders in the country to intensify efforts, take adequate risk measures and create enabling environment for Investment into Taxation.
Investing on Taxation,they said would enable the states less dependent on Oil revenue resources which is prone to global oil price volatility, as well as gather more revenue for its developmental projects, while being less dependent on what comes from the centre.
“Taxation is a very unpopular policy from any government. More so, It is risky for Political actors to introduce taxes, and it is very unpopular policy as at when Lagos introduced it. To state the least, Lagos State is collecting far more than 31 states put together.and are better of for it. Political office holders must take the lead on this, to harvest more revenue for investments,”Abiola Sani, a Professor, said.
Apart from Lagos State, he also noted that Kwara state has also come up with infrastructure fund,and had set out some measure of funding pool to up scale investments in the state
”The states must review its outdated tax laws and complements efforts with its tax policy. States must in the budget estimates factor in projected revenues expected from its Taxes and make it part of the budget provision,”Abiola said.
In the same vein, Adebimpe Balogun, tax practitioner, in her submission at the conference stressed on the need for the amendment of the national tax policy said that a policy as it relates to the nations interest should ensure that the tax rate is competitive when compared to other nations, so as to encourage wider range of investment.
“the canon of productivity is important for a country like Nigeria, to ensure that our tax rate is competitive compared to other countries. This goes along way to boost investment from foreign investors”.
According to the tax expert, “Double taxation is an identified challenge also, we should be prompt in refund of funds to tax payers, I had a case where someone paid doubled but she could not get the complete refund till date”.
She further pointed out that all policies should respect the rights of the citizens of a country, hence the national tax policy should underscore and restrain tax authorities from imposing taxation on the tax payers and ensure fair hearing to their opinions.
Naiyeju J. k, who also spoke at the event, said that the national tax policy is not reflecting the mood of Nigerians adding that it the policy is supposed to put the leaders of a country on check, as to what is expected of them in compliance to tax payment.
He further stressed that there is need for urgent review of the Nigeria tax policy as it has over the years recorded cases of corrupt practices.
He added:”we are in urgent need of the tax policy, we have had cases where people by-pass what they know is expected of them because they are highly placed and recognised in the country, we are engaging in so much corrupt pratices”.
