NAIRAMETRICS
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has said that approximately 90% of the tax revenue going into the government treasury originates from just nine tax heads.
Edun stated this during a briefing at the ongoing Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Washington DC on Friday.
The Minister noted that although there are around 80 different taxes and levies across Nigeria, only nine of them generate the current 90% of revenue that significantly contributes to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Edun explained that the government’s objective is to reduce the multitude of taxes and properly bill individuals, which will enhance people’s willingness to pay and ultimately increase revenue collection.
- “At 10% to GDP, what should I say? It would appear as if some people are not paying their taxes. Our strategy is to increase the tax revenue without increasing the rate of taxes. We want to deploy technology to make tax collection more efficient.
- “Our analysis has shown that 90% of tax revenue comes from nine tax heads while we have over 80 taxes from federal through states to local councils.
- “If we eliminate the large number of these taxes and concentrate on the nine that yield the current 90% revenue and deploy technology, there will be more efficiency and we will be able to double our tax revenue in about three years,” Edun said.
