Some tax experts have
advised the Federal Government to ensure that all employees are captured in the country’s Personal Income Tax regime.
The tax experts gave the advice in separate interviews with The Tide source on Wednesday in Abuja.
They explained that it was incumbent on the government to compel all non-registered, but profitable business ventures operating in the country to pay tax.
According to them, such initiative will enlarge the statistics of taxable people.
resident Goodluck Jonathan, had in December, 2011, signed into law the new Personal Income Tax Amendment Act.
The law replaced the old relief systems that had no relationship with modern day earnings as well as increased relief to all taxable persons.
It also allowed a consolidated relief of N200, 000 or one per cent of Gross Income and 20 per cent of Gross Income with a minimum tax of one per cent gross pay.
Mr Adedoyin Ademola, the Chief Executive Officer of Doyin Consult, said that the amended tax law had reduced the cumbersome nature of taxable items.
Ademola, however, said “it is about time the government expands its tax web to include many informal, but profitable ventures operating in the country’’.
“Let me give you an example, most second hand car dealers in the country think of themselves as unemployed.
“And so they have escaped payment of personal income tax, even though they make so much money from the business; so many other people escape like that and it is not healthy for the economy.’’
A Tax Consultant, Mr Marshal Audu, said: “the good news is that all taxable persons have benefited immensely from the new tax law’’.
“You should be paying lower tax compared to the old law, the reduction in tax payable can be as high as 57 per cent, however, high income earners may pay slightly higher tax relative to their taxable income,’’ he said.
Audu said that the government must rise up to the occasion to build its tax portfolio to reduce pressure on income from sale of crude oil.
Mr James Okopi, a fund manager, shared the same view with Audu,  stressing that “capturing informal businesses on tax radar may be a tall order in view of the manner we run businesses here’’.
“We prefer to operate businesses in the country without registering them, simply to evade taxes’’.
“It is left to government to intensify the hunt for unregistered, but viable ventures with functional employees to commence tax payment.
“Britain did it, I think we should,’’ Okopi said.