The Acting Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Alhaji Kabir Mashi has urged tax professionals to support President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda aimed at wealth creation and employment.

Mashi made the call in Abuja at the opening of the “14th Annual Tax Conference of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN).’’

The three-day conference was declared open by a representative of President Goodluck Jonathan, Mrs Chidi Ikpechukwu, a Director in the Ministry of Finance.

Mashi said that the Federal Government had clearly articulated its plan for the economic revival of the country as captured in the transformation agenda.

“It is now left for us in our different capacities, whether as revenue generating agencies, tax payers, professional associations or regulatory bodies to contribute our quota to enable government meet its revenue needs.

“In this regard, I believe that there is a clear consensus that taxation is a major tool that can be utilised to bring about this transformation.

“It is, therefore, my expectation that this conference will provide further insight into the use or uses of taxation as a tool for economic transformation,’’ he said.

The acting chairman said that there was the need to improve on the various sources of government revenue to achieve economic transformation for which taxation was the most sustainable.

“In doing this, it should be noted that the building blocks of a prosperous economy include the availability of security, well developed infrastructure, good energy system, health care and education among others.

“Building and maintaining such utilities and infrastructure require sufficient revenue,’’ Mashi noted.

In his address, the President of CITN, Mr John Jegede, stressed the need for revenue generating authorities in the states to be granted autonomy.

According to Jegede, government policies and programmes on increased revenue generation can be better implemented with a State Internal Revenue Service (SIRS) that is autonomous and manned by certified tax professionals.

“Lagos and Adamawa are among states that have autonomous status for the SIRS while Ekiti State Government has sent a bill for the autonomy of the state IRS to the State House of Assembly.

“The states should start to look inwards for alternative sources of funding if they are serious in diversifying their economy and place little or no reliance on monthly allocation which is not forthcoming,’’ he said.

Jegede urged government to ensure that only certified members of the institute were appointed chairmen of the federal and state internal revenue service in compliance with the law.

He also emphasised that only members of CITN had statutory mandate to engage in tax practice.

“This clarification becomes very apt now that the office of the chairman of FIRS is vacant so that government would not make a mistake of appointing a quack to the position thereby contravening the laws of Nigeria.

“In as much as a lawyer has always been appointed to head ministry of justice and a medical doctor to head Ministry of Health or any institution, it will be illogical to appoint anybody who is not a member of CITN as chairman of FIRS and SIRS.’’

The CITN president acknowledged what he called the “giant strides’’ taken by the governments at all levels to improve tax system in Nigeria.

He commended government’s inauguration of the National Tax Policy document last month and the signing into law of the Personal Income Tax (Amendment) Act 2011.

“But a lot still needs to be done particularly in ensuring that obsolete provisions in our tax laws are constantly reviewed and replaced.

“In this wise, yearly review of tax laws is recommended whereby the changes are reflected in the Annual Appropriation Act as obtained in developed nations like UK and South Africa.’’

According to Jegede, the practice will ensure that tax rates and allowances are in tandem with current economic realities and encourage voluntary tax compliance.

The theme of the conference is “Taxation as a Tool for Economic Transformation.’’

More than 3000 participants, comprising policy makers, academics, tax experts and administrators as well as lawmaker are taking part in the conference.