The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), has said less than 40 million Nigerians are presently captured in the tax net and paying taxes.
The Chairman of RMAFC, Muhammad Shehu, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
Shehu gave the figure as he urged Nigerians to endeavour to pay their taxes to boost government revenue and improve service delivery.
According to him, tax payers in Nigeria are too low for a country that has more than 200 million population.
He commended the idea of a Tax Reform Committee recently set up by President Bola Tinubu.
He said that the committee would do a lot to include economic players from the informal sector into the tax net.
“There is all these debate about the informal economy.
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“What this tax reform committee that we have set up will do is bring a lot of agencies together, including RMAFC. We are a member of that committee.
“We have articulated our position and we will communicate what we believe that can add value to the discussion.
“At the end of it all, we will have a better society where more people are paying taxes and the money will be utilised for better services and infrastructure so that every Nigerian can benefit, ‘” he said.
He urged the Federal Inland Revenue Service.(FIRS) to collaborate with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to identify certain categories of Nigerians who evade taxes.
“There are some taxes that the government is not getting from Nigerians.
“Somebody will declare an income of N600,000 in a year but that same person will import a vehicle of N40 million into Nigeria.
“I believe the FIRS will look at all those things, aand then collaborate with the NCS for better efficiency.
” If you import a brand new car, your name, your date of birth, your address, your NIN number should all be required.
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“They should place a search and see what it is that you filed last year, how much taxes you paid to the government. Thereby, they will get a lot more people to pay taxes,” he said.
He urged all Nigerians to embrace the idea of willingly paying their taxes so as to boost government’s revenue drive.
“I think it is very important for every Nigerian to try and pay their taxes because it is from those monies you get services.
“All the things that people like to tell you about clean environment, good roads, functional infrastructure in other countries, it is the taxes that citizens pay that are utilised for those services.
“People should learn to pay electricity bills, they should pay their water bills they should pay just like you pay for telephone recharge cards.
“The more you pay your taxes, the more money government has to put into road, rail construction, better hospitals, pension, social securities, and better plan to help the needy,” he said. (NAN)