By Babajide Komolafe

Efficient and reliable tax system will assist government in realizing its transformation agenda in key sectors of the economy,  said the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN).

“Taxation has a way of complementing government revenue drive, and making more resources available to provide social amenities for the people”,  said  Chukwuemeka Eze , Chairman, Publicity Committee of the Institute.

Speaking  on the relevance of taxation in terms of revenue generation ahead of the 14th Annual Tax Conference of the Institute  holding at NICON this week in Abuja, the tax expert and lawyer said that funds realised from taxation can be deployed into key sectors of the economy like power, agriculture, the real sector and creation of jobs to reduce growing unemployment rate in the country.

He said resources from taxation will complement oil revenue, to solve critical problems confronting the country.
According to him, an efficient and reliable tax policy will also encourage foreign direct investment (FDI) which is needful in helping the economy to grow, and revenue realised will equally boost the national revenue base.  He disclosed that that tax incentives remain the driving tool  for attracting FDI.

According to him, FDI incentives include low corporate and income tax rates, tax holidays, preferential tariffs, special economic zones, investment financial subsidies, relocation and expatriation subsidies, job training and employment subsidies, infrastructure subsidies and research and development support.

Eze said Nigeria has enough incentives in place to attract foreign investors and there are laws in place to ensure the country benefited from these investments and attendant taxes accruing to the relevant government agencies.

Besides, availability of a skilled workforce, qualitative education and infrastructure also attract FDI.  ”FDI, in common with all investment, is driven by prospective rates of return.

However, the quality of power, road, rail, air and port infrastructure, economic growth rates and effective tax system are the main policy-driven factors in attracting FDI,” he said.

Speaking on the annual tax conference, he said the conference will be  declared open by President Goodluck Jonathan,  and it will bring under one roof tax policy makers, tax administrators, tax consultants, tax academicians, and taxpayers; with participants coming from Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Cote d’lvoire, Kenya, South Africa, U.S.A., U.K., among other countries.