Don’t appoint tax evaders into govt, CITN charges Buhari

BY OMODELE ADIGUN

To boost tax col­lection through voluntary compli­ance, the Chartered Insti­tute of Taxation of Nige­ria (CITN) has urged the incoming regime to avoid mistakes of its predeces­sors by not appointing tax defaulters into its cabinet.

According to its Presi­dent, Chief Mark Dike, who gave the advice Wednesday in Lagos at a media brief­ing on the upcoming 17th Annual Tax Conference, raising tax revenue requires special measures, in order to tackle tax evasion and il­licit financial flows.

He lamented that efforts by various governments to evolve viable tax system in the country as a panacea for economic growth and development have failed to truly translate to better liv­ing conditions for majority of the citizenry.

While urging the pres­ident-elect to create an award category for volun­tary tax compliance when he assumes office in order to encourage probity, he condemned what he termed bastardization of tax holi­day by the Federal Gov­ernment which he partly blamed for the low tax-to- GDP ratio.

He described the cur­rent practice as means of enriching the pockets of friends of those in govern­ment rather than using it as an incentive to spur cor­porate organizations to do more public work, as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). “We have bastardized tax holi­day by the way we use it in Nigeria,” he said.

“Giving tax holiday is not free lunch; there are benefits and agreements at­tached to it. In fact, there must be quantifiable and verifiable evidence for tax holiday to happen. We feel statutorily obliged to initiate programmes and discussions that would not only help in critically ad­dressing these issues, but would also find solutions to the numerous problems be­deviling our economy. This year’s conference is spe­cifically one in the series of such initiatives,” he added.

As for the conference, which holds in Abuja from May 13 – 16, he said Presi­dent Goodluck Jonathan would be the Special Guest of Honour, while Minis­ter of Finance, Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, would deliver a paper on the theme of the Confer­ence: “Inclusive Economic Growth and Sustainable Development: Fiscal Im­peratives, Prospects and Challenges”. Other papers to be presented by erudite professionals include; Tax Education as a tool for ef­fective tax enforcement; Rebasing the tax system for revenue generation be­yond oil; Contentious is­sues in Companies Income Tax Act (CITA), Personal Income Tax ACT (PITA) and Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT); Taxation as an en­abler for inclusive econom­ic growth;Recent develop­ments in the Nigerian Tax System; and Fiscal incen­tives and Foreign Direct Investment.

“It is expected that dis­cussions anchored on these topics would in the end throw up other pertinent and crucial issues that are central to efforts aimed at entrenching an efficient fiscal policy regime that would transcend regional boundaries. We are also convinced that the techni­cal and professional com­petences of all the paper presenters and the topical­ity of the subjects slated for discussion would signifi­cantly give additional value and impetus to the practice and administration of taxa­tion,” Dike said.

Follow us on Twitter: @NewsFetchers
Like our Facebook page: NewsFetchers