2015 budget: Financial experts seek measures to address tax linkages

Some financial experts weekend said that the 2015 budget would only be achieved through strategic fiscal and monetary policies aimed at addressing national tax linkages.
They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in interviews in Lagos that the sustained slide in the price of crude oil in the international market calls for tougher and inclusive tax regime.
Bayo Olugbemi, president, Institute of Capital Market Registrars (ICMR), said that government should introduce measures to check tax management in the country.
Olugbemi said that Nigerians and the three tiers of government should expect more belt tightening in 2015, following developments in the international crude oil market.
He said that governments at all levels should review their spending pattern and source for other sources of revenue to reduce pressure recogon the nation’s excess crude oil account.
According to him, the $65 per barrel benchmark for the 2015 budget is not realistic and government should look for other sources of revenue to cushion the effect of the fall in oil prices.
He also called for the introduction of more fiscal measures, to hedge against a free fall in oil price.
Olugbemi, however, said that the development would not affect the Value Added Tax palliatives granted by the government on all capital market transactions.
He said that the major aim of the incentive was to encourage more participation in the capital market.
Okechukwu Unegbu, former president, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), said that the budget was not realistic because of the nation’s dependence on oil.
Unegbu said that government failed to develop alternative sources of revenue, in spite of warnings on dangers  of over reliance on oil.
He said that “every oil dependent country that failed to develop other sectors is facing an economic crisis.”
“The 2015 budget is not realistic and achievable because the $65 benchmark is above the current oil price in the international market,” Unegbu said.
He said that managers of the economy should be careful in making economic policies and pronouncements, noting that the recent devaluation of the naira was not in the best interest of the country.
Harrison Owoh, the managing director, HJ Trust & Investment Ltd., said that government at all levels should reduce their expenditure profile, to reflect present realities in the economy.
Owoh said that the major problem affecting the nation’s growth and development was excess government expenditure caused by political appointees.