The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria in partnership with the Anambra State Internal Revenue Service has intensified efforts towards increasing the state revenue generation by bringing the informal sector into the tax net.
This was as the Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo said the partnership would help to increase the state revenue generation from taxation to about N4bn monthly.
The partnership, according to the agencies is aimed at assisting the informal sector to grow in their profession by exposing them to government incentives such as loans, free business and professional consultancy services, among other opportunities.
Speaking at the one-day joint taxpayer education and enlightenment programme in Awka, on Tuesday, the National President and Chairman of Council, CITN, Mr Samuel Agbeluyi, noted that most informal sectors were facing survival challenges as a result of being outside the tax net.
Agbeluyi, represented by the Vice President of CITN, Mr Innocent Ohagwa, described taxation as a statutory obligation required from all the citizens to enable the government to provide basic amenities to the citizenry.
He spoke on the theme, ‘Formalising the informal sector: The economic benefits’, adding that what makes advanced countries tick is that their citizens pay taxes.
He said, “The informal sector plays a critical role in revenue generation and we need to harmonise and harness the potential in that sector. If this is done, the state will be generating more internal revenue to boost its infrastructural needs.
“If you want to reap the benefits of the state government, there is a need for the people to be tax compliant because tax will assist the state government to serve the citizenry better.
“To achieve this, those in the informal sectors, such as the traders, artisans, and other small business owners, are needed to come into the tax net. That sector is largely occupied by the majority of people who are outside the tax net and we need to encourage all to formalise their businesses because of its numerous benefits.”
Also speaking, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AiRS, Dr Greg Ezeilo, said the objectives of the programme were to sensitise the people and provide knowledge of taxation as well as other related matters meaningfully for the benefit of all the citizenry.
Also contributing, the Executive Director of Assessment AiRS, Mr Ben Okafor, said the exercise would enable the state government to discover areas to leverage in tax collection, while designing programmes to reach out to relevant stakeholders in the informal sector, as well as enlightening them on what the government is doing with their taxes
On his part, the lead paper presenter, Nze Akachukwu Nwankpo, urged the Anambra State government to develop a good mechanism capable of enabling the state to reach out to all those in the informal sector, as well as obtain the necessary data needed to gather taxes from them.
Nwankpo further posited that the informal sector would benefit greatly by joining the tax net as there would be more access to finances, value chains, government relief measures, improved performance, reduced poverty and inequality, and social and political stability.
