CITN laments over corruption in tax administration
By Uthman Salami
The Charted Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) has blamed the low tax culture among taxable adults and businesses in Nigeria on lack of accountability and transparency in the expenditure of tax money by tiers of government.
Chairman of CITN, Ikeja and District Society, Mr Funso Abidakun, made the remark at the 2021annual Tax Lecture, held at the weekend in Lagos.
The event, with the theme: “The effects and implications of the new Finance Act 2020 on the Nigerian economy,” is an event being organized annually, in line with the directive of the national headquarters, Abuja, to further enlighten the tax-paying public on their obligations.
Participants at the event include Tax practitioners, tax administrators and members of the public.
Speaking at the event, Abidakun made reference to recent research by the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) which revealed that more than 81 per cent of taxable Nigerians do not pay their income taxes as when due thereby, accounting for low revenue from taxes.
The research showed that of the tiers of government on whose shoulders tax collection is reposed, local governments and their officials are among the most untrustworthy, followed by the state governments and the tax officials.
NESG, while condemning the seeming national apathy of Nigerians on payment of taxes, said the figures available revealed that there are 20 million registered taxpayers in the country, scoffing at the figure which seems paltry compared to the resumed country’s population of nearly 200 million people.
It attributed the trend to an “ironic twist to the distrust that pervades the environment when it comes to paying taxes, dues, and levies to a government that does not command the public trust.”
Abidakun therefore, urged governments, especially the state governments to correct the ills that are denying the country of its collectible revenues from taxes by showing justification for taxes being collected and change the ‘sour tax narrative’ in the polity as well as fight corruption holistically in the tax system.
According to him, “Most taxable adults believe that it is unwise to pay taxes to entities that do not translate taxes to services, or to officials who divert same to personal use.
“It is the duty of CITN, as a professional body to educate the society on reasons why they should pay tax and what government is doing with the taxes being collected.
“Every budget year the Federal Government prepares budget giving fiscal intention of the government in the coming year.
“On December 31, 2020, Federal Government signed the Finance Act and comes into effect from January 1, 2021. The Act did a lot of amendments to personal income tax, company income tax, VAT, and other tax law to fine-tune grey areas in the tax system designed to support the implementation of the 2021 Federal budget of economic recovery and resilience.
“The reason is not farfetched, tax is dynamic you cannot be using the law that has been obsolete, hence, the need for upgrading of the law which we are bringing to the knowledge of the general public which also informed the choice of the theme.
“For example, the minimum wage of N30, 000 and below does not pay the tax that shows government recognizes the fact that poor people should not be bothered about tax payment.”
On the reason for low tax income, Abidakun, while maintaining that, tiers of government were not really doing their biddings in terms of justification on tax payment, stressed that the social contract between government and the taxpaying public should be respected and upheld.
