Vice President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed this, in Abuja, yesterday, at the opening of the 2018 Annual Conference of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, CITN.
According to him, “We are ready to restore the social contract between the government and the citizens.
“We are also aware that our tax systems require review to make it easier for citizens to fulfil their own end of the social contract. That is why in February 2016, Federal Executive Council, FEC adopted the National Tax Policy and the establishment of an Implementation Committee of the policy with the mandate of reviewing obsolete and ambiguous provisions in our tax laws, the simplification of the tax payment process and reduction of the tax burden on SMEs.
“It is pleasing to note that the committee has prepared five Amendment Bills and two Executive Orders all of which will soon be presented to the FEC for approval.
“When citizens pay tax, they will take more than a passive interest in how their government is run and insist on seeing that the revenue is account for. But over the years, our nation has relied more and more on oil revenue than taxation.
“That period also coincided with the military rule which took away from the people, the choice of their leaders. There was a decline in the willingness to pay tax and with it a decline in accountability.
“For too long, Nigeria had carried on as an oil-rich country where less of the citizens pay whatever tax they liked because they felt it is no big deal. In exchange, people in government feel they can do whatever they liked with public resources.
“This arrangement has fuelled massive corruption and inefficiencies that have come to be associated with public revenue management.
”The point here is this, the taxpayer is less tolerant of corruption than a citizen who does not pay tax because most of what the government spends is from oil and the taxes of a few.
“Often many people see government money as money belonging to no one. Sometimes you see people even openly supporting persons of their ethnic groups or same faith who steals government funds whereas they will not tolerate the same person it steals from their town union funds or any society to which they belong.
“The simple reason is that they are active contributors to whatever society they belong and they will not tolerate anyone stealing their money.”
How Awolowo offered free education from tax revenue
Vice president Osinbajo said that the extraordinary performance of the Western Region under Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was made possible by the income tax of the citizens.
His words, “The six-year period of the Awolowo government is often cited as the most progressive of any government in the developing world.
“The 26-storey Cocoa House, Ibadan, an architectural wonder at the time; the University of Ife, (now OAU); the Ikeja Industrial Estate; first tv station in Africa, several Farm Settlements; Odua textile Mills; Odua Oil Palm Mills; Odua Glass were all established within this period.
“Perhaps the most significant of these achievements was the Free Universal Primary Education of the Awolowo administration. In 1952 when the scheme was proposed, there were 381, 000, children. By 1955 when the scheme commenced, 811, 000 children about 30 per cent of the children were enrolled. And the number continued to grow.”
Earlier, President of CITN, Chief Cyril Ede said that all Nigerians should pay tax , describing taxation as a veritable tool for income re-distribution and closing the gap between the rich and the poor.
Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau ChiefThe Federal Government will soon come up with five Tax Amendment Bills and two Executive Orders in a move aimed at simplifying tax payments process and reducing tax burdens of Small and Micro Enterprises, SMEs.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed this, in Abuja, yesterday, at the opening of the 2018 Annual Conference of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, CITN.
According to him, “We are ready to restore the social contract between the government and the citizens.
“We are also aware that our tax systems require review to make it easier for citizens to fulfil their own end of the social contract. That is why in February 2016, FEC adopted the National Tax Policy and the establishment of an Implementation Committee of the policy with the specific mandate of reviewing obsolete and ambiguous provisions in our tax laws, the simplification of the tax payment process and reduction of the tax burden of SMEs.
“It is pleasing to note that the committee has prepared five Amendment Bills and two Executive Orders all of which will soon be presented to the FEC for approval.”
Tax payers won’t tolerate corruption
His words, “When citizens pay tax, they take more than a passive interest in how their government is run and insist on seeing that the revenue is account for. But over the years, our nation has relied more and more on oil revenue than taxation.
“This period also coincide with the military rule which took away from the people, the choice of their leaders. There has then been a decline in the willingness to pay tax and with it a decline in accountability.
“For too long, Nigeria had carried on as an oil-rich country where less of the citizens pay whatever tax they like because they feel it is no big deal. In exchange, people in government feel they can do whatever they like with public resources.
“This arrangement has fuelled massive corruption and inefficiencies that have come to be associated with public revenue management. The point here is this, the taxpayer is less tolerant of corruption than a citizen who does not pay tax because most of what the government spends is from oil and the taxes of a few.
“Often many people see government money as money belonging to no one. Sometimes you see people even openly supporting persons of their ethnic groups or same faith who steals government funds whereas they will not tolerant the same person to steal from their town union funds or any society to which they belong.
“The simple reason is that they are active contributors to whatever society they belong and they will not tolerate anyone stealing their money. “
How Awolowo offered free education from tax revenue
Vice president Osinbajo said that the extra-ordinary performance of the Western Region under Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was made possible by the income tax of the citizens.
His words, “The six-year period of the Awolowo government is often cited as the most progressive of any government in the developing world.
“The 26-storey Cocoa House, Ibadan- an architectural wonder at the time; the University of Ife, (now OAU); the Ikeja Industrial Estate; first tv station in Africa, several Farm Settlements; Odua textile Mills; Odua Oil Palm Mills; Odua Glass were all established within this period.
“Perhaps the most significant of these achievements was the Free Universal Primary Education of the Awolowo administration. In 1952 when the scheme was proposed, there were 381, 000, children. By 1955 when the scheme commenced, 811, 000 children about 30 per cent of the children were enrolled. And the number continued to grow.”
Earlier, President of CITN, Chief Cyril Ede said that all Nigerians should pay tax , describing taxation as a veritable tool for income re-distribution and closing the gap between the rich and the poor.
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