Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State has stressed the need for the re-invigoration of the nation’s tax collection machinery with technology in order to improve the revenue generation from taxes.
Ambode who spoke in Lagos Thursday at the Voluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) Interactive session for Executive and Business owners put together by PwC’s Business School also advocated the need to make the tax payment process more people friendly as well as the application of the law when necessary against non-compliance.
The Governor who was represented by the State Head of Service, Mrs. Olabowale Ademola noted that it was high time every citizen and all corporate bodies genuinely demonstrated their patriotism and support for the government to implement projects that will turn around the economy for the benefits of everyone.
“there is no doubt about the fact that given all available indices, we can generate much more from taxes than we are currently doing. In addition to the window of opportunity provided for voluntary compliance, which I believe would yield some result, we must re-invigorate our tax collection machinery with technology, make the tax payment process more people friendly and apply the law when necessary against non-compliance.”
He pointed out that the current tax to GDP ratio of 6% is non-sustainable especially against the background of the fact that the nation cannot rely just on borrowing to finance projects.
“This is the time for every citizen and all corporate bodies to genuinely demonstrate their patriotism and support for the government to implement projects that will turn around the economy for the benefits of everyone. This is the contribution we have to make to bring to reality the change which we all desire to see.
“Indeed, the current abysmally low tax to GDP ratio which is estimated to be about 6% is clearly non-sustainable especially against the background of the fact that we can no longer rely on borrowing to finance projects,” the Governor averred.
Ambode opined that tax remains a major source of revenue for financing government programmes all over the world particularly in the developed economies.