From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) in conjunction with Anambra State Internal Revenue Service (AiRS), Tuesday, intensified efforts towards increasing the state revenue generation by bringing the informal sector into the tax net.
The partnership, it was learnt, would equally assist the informal sector, which included the motorists, petty traders, freelancers, schools and others, to grow in their chosen careers by exposing them to government incentives, loans, free business and professional consultancy services, among other opportunities.
Speaking at a one day taxpayers education and enlightenment programme held at Awka, the Anambra State capital under the theme, “Formalising the Informal Sector: The economic benefits” the National President and Chairman of Council, CITN, Mr Samuel Agbeluyi argued that most informal sectors were facing survival challenges as a result of bieng outside.
Agbeluyi, represented by the Vice President of CITN, Mr Innocent Ohagwa, described taxation as statutory obligations required from all the citizens so as to enable the government provide basic amenities to the citizenry.
“If you want to reap the benefits of the State government , there is need to be tax compliant because tax will assist the State government to serve the citizenry better. To achieve this, informal sectors are needed to come into the tax net because they are occupied by the majority of Anambra State populace due to many markets, transportations and others existing in the State. We encourage all to formalise their businesses because of its numerous benefits,” he added.
Also speaking, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AiRS, Dr Greg Ezeilo, said objectives of the programme was to provide knowledge of taxations and other related matters meaningfully for benefits of all the citizenry.
Contributing, the Executive Director, Assessment AiRS, Mr Ben Okafor, said the programme would enable them to find out the areas to leverage on in tax collection, while designing programmes to reach out to relevant stakeholders in informal sector, as well as informing them on what the government was doing with their taxes
On his part, the lead paper presenter, Nze Akachukwu Nwankpo, urged Anambra State government to develop good mechanism capable of enabling them to reach out to all those in the nformal sector, as well as obtain the necessary data needed in gathering taxes from them.
Nwankpo, a former governorship candidate, further listed the benefits informal sectors would gain by joining the tax net as more access to finances, link to value chains, government relief measures, improved performance, reduced poverty and inequality, social and political stability.
Earlier, Anambra State governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr Ernest Ezeajughi, described the theme for the programme as interesting, noting that its sustenance would help to increase the State revenue generation from taxation to about N4bn monthly.