Number of Nigerians who pay tax rises to 19 million

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Wednesday, said the number of active Nigerians who pay taxes to government increased by five million from a year earlier, saying the present administration was determined to ensure prudence in public expenditure.

Osinbajo, who made the disclosure while speaking on Wednesday at the opening ceremony of the 2018 edition of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) conference, said the number of active tax compliant Nigerians rose from 14 million in May 2017 to 19 million this year.

The Vice President who attributed poor tax management as one of the issues that increased corruption in Nigerian system, however, noted that Nigeria still have a long way to go in catching up with the rest of the world in terms of tax compliance.

“Earlier, I noted that as of May 2017, only 14 million economically active Nigerians pay taxes. I am pleased to note that the number is now in excess of 19 million and still growing.

“This means that efforts led by the federal Inland Revenue Service in collaboration with many of the states inland revenue services have already added more than five million new tax payers to the tax base.

“But there is still a lot of work ahead of us; as Nigeria races to catch up with the rest of the world in terms of tax compliance, we all have a role to play in this,” he said.

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He added that government in the past had relied more on oil revenues than taxation, stressing that that a decline in taxation depicted a decline in government accountability and ability to deal with the needs of the people.

The Vice President pointed out that most states of the federation cannot pay salaries without the federal allocation due to their low tax revenues.

“Without federal allocation, most states cannot survive, Lagos state alone takes in as much Internally Generated Revenue as 31 states combined, it tells you how little the other states manage to bring in in IGR,” Osinbajo said.

He expressed optimism that, despite the fact that the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio was at 6 per cent, the reforms in the tax system might increase the ratio to 15 per cent in 2020.

The Federal Government had launched the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) in June 2017 to broaden the national tax base, curb non-compliance with existing tax laws, increase Nigeria’s tax to GDP ratio to between 10 per cent and 15 per cent and discourage illicit financial flows and tax evasion.

By Oluwasegun Olakoyenikan

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