The Nigeria Labour Congress has pushed for the correct application of tax fairness so that higher-earning individuals and businesses in the nation pay more in taxes than lower-income earners.
The NLC also lamented how the government collects taxes from citizens without taking the demand side into account and enforces regulations more harshly on the supply side.
Speaking at a consultative engagement on “Harmonising Efforts to Strengthen Tax Systems in the Capital Territory and Nigeria”, organised by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, supported by Christian Aid Nigeria on Friday in Abuja, Eustace James, NLC Focal Person, said some people expressed concern over the current administration’s approach on tax as drastic that may harm the people.
James, therefore, said there was the need for “a tax justice system in place that ensures that people pay their fair share of taxes, and there is transparency accountability in the administration of taxes.
“The NLC is one of the tax justice and governance platforms that will work with you to play our role and collaborate anytime to ensure that we have a just, transparent, and equitable tax justice in society.
“Big businesses, high-network individuals, and many of them don’t even pay their fair share of what they should pay as taxes. While those who are less trodden, have no control over corporate taxes.
“Government prosecutes more on the supply side, collecting tax from people without putting more emphasis on the demand side,” he said.
He pointed out that to have a tax system that is just equitable, and fair, people must obey their fair share of taxes based on their income also tax has both the demand and the supply side.
The Secretary of the Nigerian Tax Justice and Governance Platform, Chinedu Bassey, expressed regret over the unauthorised tax administrators who tax women disproportionately without proper authorisation adding that the platform wants to guarantee that everyone receives a fair share of the taxes they pay.
“We have so much bias to the people who are down the ladder, because we know that the high net worth individuals have their way out to wriggle out of the tax net then the people down the ladder, don’t always have that opportunity to to evade or avoid any form of taxes.
“We know that there are so many unauthorized tax administrators out there who impose a burden on the people, especially women, and they go on abated and nobody’s checking what they are doing,” Bassey said.
He urged the government to be proactive in shaping tax activities to reduce the burden people are faced with.
