All tiers of government have been advised to spread their tax net to capture more informal sector workers, majority of whom have been discovered not to be paying taxes and levies.
This was disclosed by the Commissioner of Informal Sector, Osun Internal Revenue Board, ‘Wole Adesanya, while delivering a paper on the topic: “The Impact of Informal Sector Taxes and Levies on the Development of the State of Osun Economy” at an event organised by the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN, Osogbo and District Society).
Adesanya noted that for the state to be able to meet its financial obligations, there was need for proper planning and arrangement to capture in the tax net, all informal sector workers.
According to him, with the harsh economic realities facing the country presently, there is need for the Osun state government and the leadership of unions of informal sector workers in the state to map out a strategy that will make it impossible for anyone to evade taxes.
Emphasising the need for the state and local governments to generate reasonable revenue from internal sources, Adesanya said the decline in the revenue coming from crude oil sales avails government policy formulators the opportunity to make genuine efforts to develop other sectors of the economy to earn more revenue through them.
Adesanya said: “workers in the informal sector in Nigeria are in the majority of the entire population of workers, hence the need for the government to look into how such large number of people would be made to perform their civic roles by paying all necessary dues.
“I urge workers to see payment of taxes and other levies as a civic responsibilities. The only alternative upon which the state can be transformed and made habitable for the people of the state is by making money available to government to work”.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Osogbo and District Society, Kayode Adekunle in his address, said the lecture was timely, considering the current Nigeria’s economic quagmire ravaging the country.
He said the informal sector has a big role to play in the development of Osun state, stressing that increase taxes may not be an option, rather than making people to taxes on their volition.
BOLA BAMIGBOLA, Osogbo
