The federal government has revealed that it will, in the coming days, streamline its taxes from 52 to 10 in order to promote efficiency and accountability.
The special adviser to the president on revenue, Zacch Adedeji, stated this during the virtual TOPAZ 88 second lecture series, which had the title, “Revenue Challenges and Opportunities in Nigeria Today.”
Adedeji noted that because of multiple taxations, compliance and trust in tax payment had become a huge challenge in Nigeria.
“What the federal government is doing right now is to ensure that the poor breathe. The aim of this administration is to tax prosperity and not poverty and tax the fruit, not the seed
“This is why, in the coming days when the tax committee is constituted, we will ensure that we streamline our taxes from 52 to 10 because we have realised that it is very difficult to have compliance due to so many taxes
“What we want to do now is to ensure that regulators focus on regulations while agencies in charge of tax collections will collect. For instance, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) collects 3 per cent freight duty, but it is not their duty. Their duty is to secure the waterways. Collection of freights is the sole responsibility of the Nigerian Ports Authority. This is the reason we have leakages because we don’t know how much we have.
“However, if we streamline and harmonise these taxes, we will know how much we have and then we can effectively utilise them,” he said.
Speaking further, the presidential adviser also revealed that once the Senate constitutes its standing committees, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) will be renamed to the Nigerian Revenue Service.
Explaining the rationale behind the name change, he said the idea was to ensure that all taxes due to the federal government becomes the sole responsibility of the federal government, as well as to avoid duplications.
He further revealed that the federal government will deploy technology in ensuring effectiveness and accountability in its tax collections.