Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, on Thursday called for a more people-friendly tax system from the Federal Government, while applying the law should become necessary only in cases of non-compliance.
Speaking in Lagos at the Voluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) interactive session for executive and business owners organised by PwC’s Business School, the governor called for reinvigoration of Nigeria’s tax collection machinery, employing technology to improve revenue generation from taxes.
Represented by the State Head of Service, Mrs. Olabowale Ademola, Ambode said it was time every citizen and corporate bodies genuinely demonstrated their patriotism, supporting government to implement projects that will turn around the economy for the benefit of everyone.
Noting that Nigeria’s current tax-GDP ratio of 6% is unsustainable, especially against the background of the fact that the nation cannot continue borrowing to finance projects, the governor submitted that “there is no doubt about the fact that given all available indices, we can generate much more from taxes than we are currently doing. In addition to the window of opportunity provided for voluntary compliance, which I believe would yield some result; we must re-invigorate our tax collection machinery with technology, make the tax payment process more people friendly and apply the law when necessary against non-compliance.
“This is the time for every citizen and all corporate bodies to genuinely demonstrate their patriotism and support for the government to implement projects that will turn around the economy for the benefits of everyone.”
Ambode maintained that tax remains a major source of revenue for financing government programmes all over the world particularly in the developed economies.