Business
Shore Up Your Tax Revenue, ECOWAS Members Urged
Alhaji Mohammed Daramy, Commissioner of Trade, Customs and Free Movement, ECOWAS Commission, has urged countries within ECOWAS to shore up tax revenue to attain macro-economic stability.
Daramy gave the advice at the 12th annual tax conference, organised by the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria CITN) on Friday in Abuja.
He spoke on sustainability of tax revenue for global economic stability.
Daramy said that with the gradual recovery from the global economic crisis, governments within the region were faced with decreasing revenue.
He said that the theme of the conference: “Tax harmonisation for regional integration’’, was appropriate at this time when ECOWAS had renewed its commitment to ensuring all policies within the region were harmonised.
Daramy said that in terms of performances, many ECOWAS states had not been able to substantially increase their tax revenues to reflect in their gross domestic product (GDP).
“Between 2001 and 2009, not more than two ECOWAS-member states satisfied the ECOWAS tax yield criterion of not less than two per cent.
“As at June 2009, only Cape Verde and Ghana met the criterion by recording 22.7 per cent and 23.3 per cent respectively,” he added.
Daramy said that the remaining 13 countries, including Nigeria, recorded a revenue and GDP ratio of less than 20 per cent.
”In the case of Nigeria, the tax revenue and GDP ratio declined from 19.5 per cent in 2001 to 11 per cent in June, 2009,’’ Daramy said.
He said that to make the Nigerian economy stronger, the support which taxation gave to growth and financial stability must be strengthened.
He added that to address the challenges, CITN should develop an enduring tax system where voluntary compliance would be the hallmark.
He stressed that to ensure voluntary compliance, the Nigerian tax authorities should provide strong support to individuals and businesses to contain non-compliance.
Our correspondent reports that the conference could not hold on Thursday, due to the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua who died on Wednesday in Abuja at the age of 58.
Our correspondent also reports that about 800 tax professionals and the chairmen of internal revenue service in the 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory are attending the conference.
The conference, which started on Tuesday, May 3 ends on May 7
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