TAX NEWS - JUNE 2010

Nigeria Tax: Effective Tax Culture Guarantees Sustainable Development

by Adibe Emenyonu, 01 June 2010 -- Edo State Commissioner for Finance Mr. John Osagie Inegbedion weekend advocated the need for government and its operators to pay greater attention to the issue of taxation as that was the only dependable revenue source of development.

Inegbedion, who was at a one-day sensitisation seminar on the obligations of tax payers and collectors held in Benin noted that the time was ripe for government at all levels to lay emphasis on revenue from taxes in the face of dwindling revenue from oil occasioned by the global economic crisis.

The Commissioner called on Nigerians to begin to come to term with the basic fact of taxation being their civic responsibility instead of evading same, pointing out that citizen imbibing the culture of tax placed them at a good stead to demand development from the government.

He however expressed regrets that this critical source of revenue to government had over the years been neglected thereby leading to a high tax default rate among the citizenry.

The seminar organised by the Benin/Auchi office of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) had its participants drawn from the state and Local Government as well as ministries Department and Agencies.

Welcoming guests to the seminar which the theme "The Imperatives of Withholding Tax and Value Added Tax Remittances", the Director Small and Medium Tax Payers Department; Mrs. V.O. Osinowo said the FIRS was poised to creating a conducive tax environment that would recognize the special place for tax payer.

The essence of the seminar, according to her, is at the core of FIRS mandate to institutionalise a transparent system that would afford the tax payer the opportunity to be abreast with what he ought to know through continuous tax education and to be encouraged to comply voluntarily.

Osinowo however advised the withholding tax collectors against failure to remit taxes collected to the government's coffers as such behavious constituted grave offences for which one could be penalized or possibly go to jail if found guilty.

Also speaking, the Regional Coordinator South-South, Mr. G.O Oshiga said the seminar was designed to deal with the observed gaps in the process of complying with the related tax laws and to draw public attention to the benefits of taxation.