The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged both federal and state governments to enthrone a fair and just tax system that would be transparent and open.

The congress argued that businesses with high turnovers should pay more tax than low-income earners.

The NLC lamented that governments collect taxes from citizens without taking the demand side into account and enforce regulations more harshly on the supply side.

The NLC focal person on tax justice, Eustace James said this at a one-day consultative engagement on “Harmonising Efforts to Strengthen Tax Systems in the Federal Capital Territory and Nigeria”, organised by Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre with support from Christian Aid in Abuja.

The Tax Justice and Governance Platform (TJ&GP) is the foremost civil society platform in Nigeria, working to promote and advocate for transparent, equitable and progressive tax systems in Nigeria.

Comprising 18 sub national platforms across eighteen (18) states in the country, the TJ&GP’s Secretariat is coordinated by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) with broad direction provided by a Steering Committee at the National level.

James 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.”

He said: “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 system 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 pay their fair share of taxes based on their income.

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.”

He added 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 evade or avoid any form of taxes.

“We know that there are so many unauthorised tax administrators out there who impose a burden on the people, especially women, and they go unabated and nobody is checking what they are doing,” he said.

He urged the government to be proactive in shaping tax activities to reduce the burden people are faced with.

Stakeholders at the meeting called for a review of the tax system in the country.

They agreed that there were inefficiencies in the present tax collection system.

The tax experts lamented that the present system was taxing “poverty.” (The Nation)

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