By Kadiri Abdulrahman
The Governor of Kaduna State, Sen. Uba Sani, has commended President Bola Tinubu for taking the decision to fundamentally reform and reposition Nigeria’s tax ecosystem.
Sani gave the commendation in a statement by the Communication and Stakeholder Liaison Department of the Joint Revenue Board (JRB).
The governor spoke at the 160th meeting of the JRB on Wednesday in Kaduna with the theme, “One Year of Reform; Assessing Progress and Addressing Challenges”.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that JRB is the apex body for revenue administration in Nigeria.
It had undertaken an assessment of the progress and challenges of the tax reform, one year into the commencement of its implementation.
The board, at the meeting said it was imperative for revenue authorities to come together to reflect on their experiences under the new revenue regime and chart the way forward where concerns arise.
Sani said the tax reform had expanded the opportunities for domestic resource mobilisation for the development of the country
According to him, the deeper benefits of the reform would be to build institutions that will sustain the gains of the reform and command the confidence of taxpayers.
“The objective of the reform should not be simply to collect revenue.
“It should be to build a tax system in which compliance becomes easier, enforcement becomes more intelligent and voluntary compliance becomes a norm,” he said.
The governor urged the JRB to use the meeting to identify bottlenecks that impede revenue collection, institutional weaknesses that create friction between revenue authorities and opportunities through which technology can deliver efficiency in revenue.
In his opening remarks, the Chairman, Joint Revenue Board, Dr Zacch Adedeji, said the theme of the 160th meeting was a call on the board to take stock of the progress made in the implementation of the reform.
Adedeji, who is also the Executive Chairman, Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) was represented by Muhammad Abubakar, Executive Director Finance & Corporate Services, NRS.
He said that the theme was also a call to remediate identified gaps and confront the challenges that may emerge.
He further said that encouraging progress had been recorded in institutional reform, digitalisation, data integration, harmonisation and collaboration.
He, however, said that the ultimate measure of success of the reform must be improved revenue mobilisation, greater compliance, a better taxpayer experience and stronger contribution to national development.
The Executive Secretary of the JRB, Mr Olusegun Adesokan, said that 18 state Houses of Assembly had domesticated the model harmonised taxes and levies law.
Adesokan said that the legislation had reduced the over 50 collection items hitherto administered by states and local government areas to nine sub-heads.
He said that it also abolished cash collection and mounting of roadblocks for collection of revenue.
“This has recorded a significant success in the harmonisation of taxes and levies by the subnational,” he said.
Adesokan said the reform had reduced tax burden on low-income earners and eliminated multiple “nuisance taxes”, while providing reliefs for low income-earners and micro-scale businesses.
The executive secretary appreciated the Kaduna State governor for his continued support for the tax reform.
The Executive Chairman of Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service, Mr Jerry Adams, acknowledged collaboration between revenue authorities and other stakeholder agencies within the tax ecosystem.
Adams said that such a relationship had proven useful in the implementation of the tax reforms.
He said that tax compliance in Kaduna state had risen from about 35 per cent to 65 per cent in the last three years.
According to him, the increase is due to increased taxpayers’ confidence in the performance of the state governor.
The JRB is composed of the 38 revenue authorities in the country, including the NRS, the 36 states and the FCT Internal Revenue Services.
It also has the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Nigeria Customs Service, and the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.
Others are Federal Road Safety Commission, National Identity Management Commission and the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria.(NAN)
Edited by Josephine Obute/Isaac Aregbesola