Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara has assured that his administration would not overtax residents under whatever guise.

The governor, who was represented by Mrs Susan Oluwole, the state Head of Service (HoS), made this known at the Investiture of Dr Biola Adimula as the 4th National Chairperson of the Society of Women in Taxation (SWIT).

He stated that the government was mindful of the effect of over-taxation and would ensure residents paid only exact dues.

“This is ensuring everything is balanced and will not cause undue hardship.

“But we are conscious of the fact that everybody should be made to pay what they are supposed to pay to the government,” he said.

AbdulRazaq stated that government cannot joke with the issue of taxation, because it is important to the development of any nation.

He commended the new national chairperson of SWIT, noting that Adimula is a woman who is dedicated to the development of Kwara.

The governor also pledged that the state government would collaborate with the association to ensure success in developing Kwara and Nigeria as a whole.

In his goodwill speech, Mr Muhammad Nami, the Executive Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue (FIRS), noted that the FIRS was the leading tax authority in Nigeria, which has shown interest in activities that can promote revenue growth and effective revenue collection in Nigeria.

Nami, who was represented by Mr Isola Akingbade of FIRS, stated that in keeping with the changing times, the authority was implementing several initiatives to mitigate the impact of aggressive tax avoidance and tax evasion in Nigeria.

“The authority will ensure deployment of Tax-pro Max; a fully integrated tax solution and amendment of tax laws through the annual Finance Act to block leakages,” he said.

He also said there would be cultural and structural realignment towards global tax practices to address peculiar economic dynamics, among others.

“It is imperative to emphasise that female gender of staff forms about 41.4 per cent of FIRS workforce as of May 2021, and it is heartwarming to inform you that majority of these ladies are members of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) and SWIT,” he said.

He congratulated the new chairperson, adding that she had attained success in the area of tax practice and in her legal profession.

Earlier in her welcome address, Dr Caroline Ndubuisi, the Chairman of SWIT Investiture Committee, explained that the body is comprised of female members of the CITN, whose objectives are to identify with and assist the organisation to achieve laudable objectives.

In her acceptance speech, Dr Biola Adimula, the 4th National Chairperson of SWIT, explained that the development in the global space had shown across the world that taxation is now the big elephant in the room, which governments across the globe collect from their respective jurisdictions.

She observed that the recent decision by G7 countries to impose “global minimum tax” on multinationals that operate across their jurisdictions had also shown clearly that taxation had become the main source of revenue generation globally.

Adimula observed that as the global tax environment was blocking tax leakages from their jurisdiction, Nigeria’s tax system was undergoing significant improvement to achieve the same objective.

The expert in Law said the devastating impact of the COVID:19 pandemic had impacted negatively on Nigeria’s budget by reducing tax receipts and increasing spending on programmes to save lives.

She also appealed to governments at all levels to address the issue of insecurity in the country, while pledging to serve the body for national development.

 

NAN