Participants at a policy dialogue task FG on property tax
Participants at the monthly policy dialogue on the Next Level in Abuja have urged the federal government to introduce property tax towards generating necessary funds for its critical projects.
In a resolution at the end of the dialogue, they called on government to strengthen the country’s tax laws to ensure necessary funding for its projects.
The participants observed that dwindling oil revenue had made it difficult for government to fund critical projects.
“Federal government must copy from other countries where property tax plays critical role in revenue generation.
“In Britain for instance, property tax provides large chunk of government revenue, Nigerian government can copy from that by introducing property tax in the country.
“You find Nigerians building large estates across the country without paying tax; this is more pronounced in Abuja where you have a large number of unoccupied houses all over the city. Taxing those houses will help generate funds for projects in the country,” they said.
The participants also urged the federal government to adopt horizontal personal income tax system in the country to increase income tax revenue.
“Government should adopt horizontal tax system like other countries; this will ensure that high income earners pay more tax, while low income earners pay less.
“This will increase government revenue base and ensure more funding for critical areas of the economy,” they said and also urged the federal government to strengthen anti -corruption agencies in the country for better results.
“Strengthening anti- corruption agencies will help recover more stolen funds that can be channelled into critical projects in the country,” the participants added.
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The participants also advised the federal government to enhance the operations of revenue generating agencies by improving their funding, infrastructure and welfare of staff.
