The Managing Director of a development training institute, Coinmac International, Ayo Salam yesterday at a training workshop on Tax Policy, Fiscal Analysis and Revenue Forecasting for FCT Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS), in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, advised the government to adopt Geographic Information System (GIS) to improve tax collection in the country.
Salam said it’s imperative for all business owners, informal sectors, service providers and organizations to be forced to pay tax, adding that “an effective tax administration is knowing who the taxpayers are, where they are located’’.
While detailing that every citizen must be subjected to the law to pay tax from their income, he emphasized on the need for all tiers of government to diversify its revenue base by seeking alternative means of revenue generation as the dwindling oil revenue is worrisome.
“Government needs to practically shift attention from oil to development of other revenue sources, especially non-oil exports to support Internally Generated Revenue from taxes.
“The reliability of the institutional framework for tax processing and enforcement must not be questionable to ensure sustainable development through taxation.
“GIS can provide an efficient and improved system to not only increase revenue collection, but to monitor the prices and identify defaulters.”
Salam said that most revenue service organisations had adopted GIS in implementation of their duties, adding that an efficient GIS could store accurate information on tax payable and monitored virtually.
He said FCT was a reference point for tax administration in Nigeria as tax collection stood at N188 billion, surpassing projected revenue target of N109 billion in 2021.
He said implementing blockchain technology for tax compliance would be an opportunity for taxes to be collected on goods and services consumed on different electronic platforms.
