By Lydia Ngwakwe
The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Mr Clem Agba has urged tax administrators in Sub-Saharan African countries to discover ways of effectively generating and improving tax revenues.
Agba gave the advice at the Seventh African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) General Assembly, organised by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on Tuesday in Lagos.
The forum had “Rethinking Revenue Strategies: The Human Face of Taxation’’, as its theme.
Agba, represented by the Statistician General of the Federation, Mr Semiu Adeniran said that statistics showed that sub Saharan African countries still mobilised less than 17 per cent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) without revenue.
According to him, this is below the recommended minimum level of 20 per cent by the UN, as necessary to achieving the sustainable development goals.
“According to the World Bank tax revenues, above 15 per cent of a country’s GDP is a key ingredient for economic growth and ultimately the option of revenue.
“Clearly, there is a gap between available tax resources and the need to improve, to foster sustainable economic growth and development, it’s imperative to restrategize and rethink concept and dynamics of tax and taxation.
“We must ask the relevant questions that hold the potentials to unlock for us, a new focus and a new trust that will fashion a pragmatic way forward,’’ he said.
He also agreed with the theme of the event, adding that human face of taxation must be a more sustainable and effective way of achieving tax reform and the optimisation of revenue and fostering voluntary compliance.
Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State said the state was constantly on the lookout for ways of increasing its internally generated revenue without burdening the existing tax base.
“Over the past few years, and despite the documented global challenges, we have made notable developmental strides, relying mostly on internally generated revenue as a primary source of funding.
“We have amongst others, embarked on major transformational infrastructure projects, cutting across transport, health, education, agriculture, technology, and so on.
“These major infrastructural interventions are designed to improve the quality of life of our citizens and re-engineer the economic growth and development trajectory for improved productivity of our citizenry, which invariably improves our tax generating abilities,’’ he said.
The governor added that one of other critical areas of development had been in environmental protection, waste management and disposal, which had been prioritised with the hope to continue to build on.
Earlier, Mr Muhammad Nami, Executive Chairman, FIRS and President, Commonwealth Association of Tax Administration (CATA) said: “If we must transform our tax system and enhance revenue collection in Africa, there is need for government at all levels to engender public confidence and trust in government by providing value for taxpayers money.
“More importantly, the government should reconsider how projects are reported in the public space and the expected impact it will have on the tax paying culture.
“Such reports should be communicated to convey the idea that tax payer’s money is used to fund infrastructural projects,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the forum, which will end Nov. 4, has over 40 African countries participating in the deliberations.(NAN)
