CITN Identifies Excesses In FG’s Fiscal Plan

The Chartered Institute of
Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) has urged the Federal  Government to pruning down excesses in the current fiscal plan as well as identifying waste.
Speaking to newsmen in Lagos on Monday, the president and chairman of  council, CITN, Chief  Mark  Anthony  Dike,  said the current economic  realities called for attention.
Dike said that government’s approach to tax matters betray its claims, stressing that the federal governments strategies to boost revenue may have  been assessed  low.
He said government has encouraged tax payment as it   consistently appoints people without consideration to their tax compliance  status.
The CITN boss said the body reiterated its call on government to consider the current  non-oil sector growth drivers  such as mining  and quarrying, trade, Information and Communication, Telecommunications and  Information Services and Real Estate sector which constituted 14.50 per cent 17.02 per cent, 10.94 per cent, 8.69  per cent and 8.02 per cent respectively of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as at 2013 for increased revenue.
He said governments focus should now be on using any excess  arising from crude oil prices to boost the critical revenue buffer  needed to hedge the economy from revenue volatilities as well as cutting down over-bloated recurrent expenditure  that has not added much value to government fiscal transparency drive.
He said the revenue  projection from the government’s proposed luxury Tax was a narrow flows as it would only contribute 0.38 per cent  to Federal Inland  Revenue  Service (FIRS), stressing that appropriate legal instrument  has not  been submitted to  the  National Assembly to clarify  whether  the luxury tax is a levy or tax by the government.
It would be recalled that CITN is the sole body charged by the  1999  constitution as amended as a Professional body to train and regulate  tax practices in the country.