By SUNNY IKHIOYA

CHIEF Blakey Ijezie has been holding a series of seminars to enlighten people on the subject of taxation through his accounting firm Okwudili Ijezie and Co. The last of it was held on Thursday, june 13, 2024 at Pholax Hotel, Anthony Village Lagos. While taxes, if properly handled, could bring substantial development to a nation, it could also lead to its downfall. 

We need not go too far to see it. Kenya is presently facing unprecedented upheavals, the kind they have not seen since the beginning of self rule there, all because of a badly handled tax management. I hope the leadership of this country is taking notice. The Lagos State government just reverted its land use tax law back to the 2018 levels; it’s all due to the heat of the moment. There is a limit to which you can tax people, otherwise,  they will react negatively. 

The leadership and government in Nigeria are not setting the right examples, the optics from the side of the people is showing an uncaring, profligate, selfish and misdirected leadership. That is why Blakey titled his keynote address: “You cannot build on nothing”. If you do not put the right foundations and structures in place, all our tax activities will be labour in vain. The people will be paying taxes much of which will be frittered away, while the nation’s infrastructure development remains stunted. 

How do you build the right environment for a smooth tax paying culture? First, you have to make the people’s interest your priority, creating the right atmosphere for jobs to thrive, work very hard to bring the millions of the dimensionally poor citizens into gainful employment, support local businesses and show transparency. If you are not sincere with the people, they will not buy into your programmes. Pressed by the impact of inflation on the poor citizens, the Federal Government has decided to open our borders again for food import. In the interim, that appears to be the only option we have now for the suffering masses, but there must be a definite time deadline for this before we throw the baby away with the bath water. If we can collectively and decisively attack the insecurity challenges in the country, food shortage problem can be tackled in one year. 

The political and military will to bring this to fruition is still lacking. It is only when the people are properly cared for that they will happily and willingly pay their taxes. On a serious note, taxes are necessary for a country’s development. According to Blakey: “It is the lifeblood of any nation seeking to build a prosperous and sustainable future.” But Nigeria is seriously lagging behind  in the global ranking index. “Nigeria, as a nation, faces significant challenges in its quest for global competitiveness. According to the World economic forum’s global competitiveness index, GCI, 2019, Nigeria ranks 116th out of 141 countries in terms of overall competitiveness. We trail behind countries like South Africa (ranked 60th), Morocco (70th) and Egypt (93rd) in Africa,” he said.  

He also said: “Nigeria’s tax system faces challenges, including a low tax to GDP ratio (10.86%) compared to Africa’s average of 17.2%”; compounded by a complex tax code and a heavy reliance on oil revenues. Blakey went further to say that: “A solid tax system is essential for funding public goods and services, redistributing wealth and stimulating economic activities…Our tax system must adapt to the changing landscape of international trade, finance and technology. We must harness taxation as a tool for economic transformation, not just revenue generation. 

“In today’s globalised economy, taxation plays a vital role in attracting investment, promoting innovation and fostering competitiveness. A well designed tax system can act as a catalyst for economic growth, while a poorly designed one can hinder progress.” He said that we should work together to create a tax system that supports Nigeria’s growth and competitiveness; a system built on transparency, accountability and innovation; a system that encourages investment, promotes entrepreneurship and drives economic progress. 

Blakey concluded by saying: “A solid tax framework is the foundation upon which economic growth, competitiveness and prosperity are built”. So, our challenge here is for government at all levels to be sincere in the manner it handles tax administration. Too much muddled and multiple taxes. Officials of government must find a way to remove all categories of non-government actors from the scene. If well handled, taxes will bring prosperity to the country. Quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes Jnr: “Taxes are the the price we pay for civilization ” 

For Grover Norquist: “The tax system should be designed to maximise economic growth and job creation “. This is the reality that we must bring into our tax administration; the potentials for growth and development are there but our structures and institutions are conditioned to be wasteful, the way it is with the power industry. Every system that is designed to eliminate waste will always succeed, but like we always say, we need the political will and the optics we have now is not telling us that they are ready. 

There were also discussions on tax reforms and policy innovations, harnessing technology for tax compliance and administration, strengthening tax institutions and capacity building, enhanced tax transparency and accountability, fostering regional and international cooperation, all handled by different discussants. The meat of it all is that a properly handled tax administration will bring development and prosperity to a country.

* Ikhioya wrote via: http://www.southsouthecho.com