The need for Nigeria to harmonise her tax system took centre stage at the 153rd meeting of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) in Abuja on Monday.
The Chairman of JTB, Mr Mohammed Nami said for the country to attain optimum tax revenue collection, there was the need for stringent but necessary reforms that would yield long term benefits.
Mr Nami who is also the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) pointed out that the system was plagued with multiple taxation and the meeting was to proffer solutions in line with the promise of President Bola Tinubu to solve the problem.
He said for progress to be made, tax authorities must continue to explore and adopt measures and innovative initiatives that would lead to the optimisation of tax revenue for all levels of government.
On the informal sector, Mr Nami said the FIRS had partnership with relevant unions to ensure they are incorporated into the tax reforms.
Presenting a paper on the theme of the meeting: “Harmonisation and codification of taxes at the national and sub-national levels, key to achieving a tax friendly environment in Nigeria”, the Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax reforms Committee, Mr Taiwo Oyedele said businesses have been forced to pay many taxes which had impacted negatively on the business environment.
He explained that tax to GDP ratio in Nigeria was one of the lowest (10.8%) in the world and that personal income tax collection was the lowest performing tax in the country and elsewhere in the world.
According to him, this has led to the current low revenue and over-reliance on borrowing to finance public spending, which has resulted in increased debt servicing and inadequate funding for infrastructural development.
Other challenges plaguing the tax system identified by Mr Oydele include, too many tax collection agencies, unprofessional means of tax administration as well as manual tax processing.
Mr. Oyedele therefore called for the improvement and harmonisation of already existing taxes, constitutional amendment and use of technology for collection as well as for the country to revisit the concept of fiscal federalism.
Also, the secretary of Joint Tax Board, Aisha Nana Obomeghie said the plan was to improve sensitization to educate the public on the right tax to pay and where it should be paid.
The JTB meeting had representatives of the Internal Revenue Services of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in attendance.
Source: Radio Nigeria
