NAN-HE-8
Forum
By Usman Aliyu
Ilorin, March 1, 2018 (NAN) Participants at a Public Policy Dialogue on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), Taxation and Participatory Governance on Thursday in Ilorin, urged Nigerians to show more interest in the budgetary process by all tiers of government.
The participants made the call at a forum jointly convened by a firm, Followtaxes and the Centre for Community Empowerment and Poverty Eradication (CCEPE).
The forum, in a communique jointly signed by its Chairman, Mr Femi Afolabi, and the Secretary, Mr Abayomi Opakunle, said payment of tax is an obligation of the citizens to ensure good governance.
According to the participants, public participation in budgetary process is very important so that the citizens can adequately monitor if their money is being judiciously and appropriately used.
The forum also noted that there was no justification whatsoever for tax avoidance or evasion.
The participants further pointed out that it is the responsibility of the government to ensure adequate provision of social amenities for the citizenry.
“Citizens should know their rights and responsibilities that payment of taxes is mandatory and that citizens should be more active in the process of governance.
“Government also should encourage the citizens to pay tax through effective provision of social amenities such as good roads, quality health care services and quality education, among others.
“There should be a simplified tax law that should be widely circulated to sensitise the citizens on the difference between double taxation and multiple taxation,’’ the participants said.
The participants noted that Kwara had really not justified the increase in the IGR in last two years in terms of infrastructure development in the state.
They also lamented what they described as over-taxation by the Kwara Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) in the last two years.
Mr Olutade Adebanjo, one of the discussants and Secretary of Ilorin District Society of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), said double taxation is different from multiple taxes.
Mr Aderemi Isioye of the state Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, however, urged participants to bear with the government, claiming that there was no government that would not want to be alive to its responsibility of service delivery.
He said that there was paucity of fund in the face of the enormous challenges facing government.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of CCEPE, Mr Sulaiman Abdulkadir, said that the programme was meant to serve as a platform between the government and the governed to discuss the importance of tax payment and how the monies were being expended.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that participants were drawn from Civil Society Organisations, Chartered Institute of Taxation, government agencies and the Joint National Association of People Living with Disability among others. (NAN)
AUO/AJA/OJO
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(Edited by Adeleye Ajayi/Mufutau Ojo)