‘Nigeria in dire need of a strong tax system’

Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has argued that only a strict tax system can salvage the country in its present credit crunch.

The governor gave this charge when he played host to Course 24 participants of the National Defence College, on a study tour of Edo State on Friday.

Going down memory lane, Oshiomhole recalled that while growing up virtually anybody who was up to 18 years was a taxpayer but regretted that the reverse was the case presently.

“When I was growing up, everybody who was up to eighteen years and above paid a fixed tax. When villagers met at the village square to discuss and you made a bold statement, another villager would challenge telling you to shut up because you had not paid your tax. He would tell you, don’t talk where men are talking because you had not paid your tax, that you are not a man.”

Raising some posers, he said: “Central to the political debate in every country is question of taxation. Who gets what? Are you going to collect more taxes from the rich or are you going to collect more taxes from the poor?”

He also recalled that: “In Edo State, one of the tasks we faced in the course of revenue generation was that many of my comrades in the civil service were not paying correct taxes. In fact, I stumbled into a circular in which one of my predecessors agreed under pressure that notwithstanding the law on pay as you earn, that people should pay 7% of their basic salary and I discovered that the three arms of governments were guilty of this; both the judiciary, the House of Assembly and of course the executive including Commissioners, Permanent Secretaries and the entire civil service.

“My first task was to see that before we go out to ask other people to pay tax, we have to be on a stronger moral high ground to be able to do that beginning with ensuring that the executive arm pays correct taxes and this for many of my comrades in the Civil Service was not something they contemplated. In fact, they reminded me that when a comrade becomes a governor, they expected a tax free holiday.

Read also: Fowler goes after 325,000 tax evaders

“But a progressive government would ensure that taxes are paid, but it would be structured in such a way that the rich will pay more than the poor but everybody will pay something and it is the taxes collected from the rich that is used to provide a robust social safety net for those who are victims of so-called market forces and of competition.

“So tax, whether by government to the left or right are not contestable, they must be paid but who pays what is where the details lies and that is where the values of the government lies. “So I am also proud to be able to say that whereas I cannot even say how many strikes I have organised in my life, but I can say without any fear of contradiction that I have never organised a strike against the payment of taxes because I understand the poor need taxes for the state to protect them and provide security.

“What Nigeria needs, in terms of internally generated revenue, is to recognise that governance is about courage, about will and also about fairness. If you are going to apply the law, apply it without any discrimination.”

Earlier, the Commandant of the National Defence College, Real Admiral Samuel Alade said, “we have come around, we have seen for ourselves and for people like us who pass through this place at least once in six months, every time we pass through, we notice one change or the other.”

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