The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria says for the country to attract foreign direct investment its tax system has to be reformed.
Mr Abiodun Oke, the Chairman of Ikeja District Society of CITN, revealed this during his investiture in Lagos, recently.
“We desire to have an environment where they would be able to work and bring funds to the country. Recently, we have been talking about the foreign direct investment; it won’t come if we don’t have a standard tax system,” Oke said.
Oke called for the updating of the tax laws as well as the addressing the issue of multiple taxation.
“Look at laws because they would always tell you what is in the law. And so if the law is archaic, it is no longer up-to-date. We need to find a way to bring them on board,” he stated.
Oke expressed hope that, with the inclusion of tax professionals in decisive positions, the issue of multiple taxation would be addressed.
“So, multiple taxation has always been there but now our professionals in the tax space have been called upon to sanitise it, and I am sure something good would come out in the near future,” he noted.
He further stated that Nigerians don’t pay taxes because the process was not digitised.
“People don’t pay tax here in Nigeria. There are small businesses that do not pay taxes. A businessman can do billions of naira business in a year and would come and pay personal income tax, maybe because the person runs an enterprise and because he is not a limited company.
“But when such personal transactions are captured digitally, the person can be monitored. So the era of digital technology is what we want to leverage,” Oke affirmed.
Oke stated that his administration would look at the welfare of members to improve relationships.
“We have to look at the welfare of our members and see how we can be able to relate to our members almost seamlessly,” he stated.
The CITN president said, the administration needs to have an e-platform where it can reach its members.
Also, Oke and Mr Samuel Agbeluyi, a member of the Tax Reforms Committee, was planning decrease taxes payable in Nigeria to 10 from over 60.
“And I tell you they are taking it step by step and from what we are seeing, away from 62 different taxes we pay in Nigeria, we are looking at reducing it to a maximum of 10,” he declared.
