The 16th president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Mr Samuel Olushola Agbeluyi, who was inaugurated at the weekend has said if the country can capture more people into the tax net, the tax burden on businesses will reduce, while the economy will flourish.
Speaking in Lagos during his investiture attended by the crème-de-la-crème in Nigeria’s tax space, Agbeluyi stated that many businesses cannot grow because of tax-related issues while many Nigerians are still outside the tax net.
He stated that to reduce the tax burden on businesses, Nigeria “must pay critical attention to research, digital infrastructure, fiscal policy interventions and tax governance, among others.”
“To this end, on behalf of CITN, I extend our hands of partnership to the federal government, all state governments, local governments and every key stakeholder in the Nigerian tax space.
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He noted that Nigeria is yet to maximise its population potential to grow its tax revenue as the country relies mainly on corporate income tax with personal income tax standing at 11.4% compared to South Africa which relies more on PIT which is 35.5% of its total revenue.
In his address, the Executive Director, FBN Holdings, Mr Ariyibi Oyewale who spoke on “Governance and Taxation: A New Dawn for Nigeria,” called for a robust tax system to jack up the country’s revenue, empower the government to manage its budget and control public debt.