MANAGEMENT OF NIGERIA TAX SYSTEM IN THE GENERATION OF REVENUE FOR DEVELOPMENT PURPOSE
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION
A statesman and philosopher “Benjamin Franklin” observed that “in this world nothing is certain but death and tax are certain.” Our ancestor spontaneously paid their taxes in kind for the progress of the community as a whole. Right from independent 1960, the Nigeria Government seemed to have a definite conception of direction in which economy should move.
There had been some economic problems which policymakers had tried to find solution to, from independence to date. Some of these problems include a high level of un-employment, rural – to- urban drift with its attendant social amenities among others.
The government, both federal and state had been looked at as the greatest employer of labour and the provider of these social amenities like electricity, pipe-borne water, good roads, hospitals and schools etc. There was also the problem of over-dependence of the Nigeria economy on foreigners and reliance on foreign resources for development financing. The much reliance on the oil revenue had earlier blocked the effective utilization of some internal source of fund, taxes of various classes which form the major bulk of revenue of the government.
In an effort to combat some of these problems various government had in their annual budgets enunciated some fiscal and monetary policies. The fiscal policies are aimed at both to control certain economic activities and to generate internal revenue which maybe channel to development programmes. Various tax laws ordinances and Act had been in operation since,1904. Inland Revenue Board (IRB) had been established to facilitate implementation of the law and effective collection of the taxes.
Taxes may be categorized into income tax, property tax, community tax, capital gain tax, petroleum product tax, capital transfer tax, excise duties, etc. The most prominent tax operative in the country is the income tax than better – off-self employed persons. Income tax was introduced first in 1904 in Nigeria by Late Lord Lugard. Previously, Nigerians cheerfully paid their taxes in kind by rendering free services such as clearing the bush, digging pit toilets, wells etc. for the benefits of the community as a whole. Failure to render any services usually resulted in seizure of property, which might be reclaimed on payment of some money.
