TAX MANAGEMENT AND REVENUE GENERATION (A CASE STUDY OF ANAMBRA STATE) Abstract
This study was set to determine the impact of good tax
management on revenue generation in Anambra State, using Orumba south Local
Government Area as the area of study. The study was necessitated by the
increasing financial burden on the government at levels occasioned by the
surging need to provide social services and infrastructural development for the
governed. To accomplish the objective of the study, the researcher has reviewed
the opinions of established authorities on the subject matter of study. Well-
structured questionnaires were used to elicit information from respondents
forming the sample of study. Data were
collected using questionnaire and were analyzed using frequency tables and
percentages.
The analysis result revealed that;
The tax system is designed and formulated to facilitate
generation of revenue.
The tax system is planned to prevent evasion and avoidance
of tax by citizens.
In spite of the high demand for social services and
infrastructural development, tax payers still avoid tax.
Tax management in Orumba south L.G.A is effective and has
resulted to increased generation of tax revenue.
On the basis of the above findings, the researcher
recommends that;
The citizens should be sensitized on the need to pay their
taxes as a civic responsibility.
Tax personnel should be persons of proven character
Government should ensure stricter enforcement of existing
tax laws to ensure compliance.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page
Approval page
ii
Dedication
iii
Acknowledgement
iv
Abstract
v
Table of contents
vi
CHAPTER ONE
Background of the study 1
Statement of the problem 6
Objectives of the study 8
Research Questions 9
Significance of the study 11
Scope of the study 11
Limitation of the study 12
Definition of terms 13
References
14
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 History of Orumba-South L.G.A 16
2.2 Meaning and definition of Taxation 17
2.3 Statutory Tax
Laws in Nigeria
21
2.4 Tax
Administration in Nigeria 23
2.5 Sources of
generating revenue
31
2.6 Cannons of
Taxation
33
2.7 The Purpose of
Taxation
34
2.8 Tax System
36
References
31
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
38
3.2 Research
Design 38
3.3 Sources/method of
data collection 39
3.4 Population and
sample size
39
3.5 Sampling techniques 41
3.6 Method of data analysis 42
References
42
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 PRESENTATION AND
ANALYSIS OF DATA
4.1 Introduction
43
4.2 Presentation of
data 43
4.3. Analysis of data
44
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 SUMMARY,
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Summary of finding 59
5.2 Conclusion
60
5.3 Recommendation 62
5.4 Area of study
63
BIBLIOGRAPHY 64
APPENDIX
66
QUESTIONNAIRE
67
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The prime objective of every government is to maintain law
and order, to provide and maintain basic essential services without which the
community will be unimaginable and which by their nature cannot be left
appropriately in the hands of private entrepreneurs. Such services include
Internal Law and Order, Maintenance of National defense, provision of good
healthcare system, educational system, transportation system, agricultural
system etc. To cover the cost of providing these goods and services for the public
good, government must generate financial and adequate revenues. The quest to
governing meaningful financial resources has often led government to designing
and administering some efficient and effective revenue generation systems.
Primarily the main source of government revenue includes the following:
Taxation on citizens
Taxation on income of
companies
Borrowing
Grants.
Amongst these sources, taxation (the demand made by the
government of a country for a compulsory payment of money by the citizens of
that country.) remains the most outstanding. This may be due to it being a
civic responsibility that must be performed by the citizens of the state. As a
non-penal by compulsory transfer of resources from the private sector, taxation
must be levied on the basis of equity, certainty, convenience, economy and
productivity. Unfortunately, taxes are not paid in exchange for specific things
but are collected for the sake of public welfare and interest.
Government
often uses various kinds of taxations to generate the required revenues. For
instance, direct taxes which include personal income tax, often applied on
employees, sole traders, partnership, capital gain tax on companies, individual
and non- co-operate entities, capital transfer tax (applicable asset
transferred from one person to another), purchase tax, petroleum profit tax,
and company income tax has constituted a significant source of revenue to the
government. Similarly, indirect tax, e.g. stamp duties, custom duties,
industrial training fund, toll paid on federal highways, will have often
enhanced government revenues.
The administration of tax in Nigeria is in the hands of
three relevant tax authorities viz:
The joint Tax Board
The federal Board of Inland Revenue
The various state Board of Internal Revenue
In Nigeria, persons liable to pay income tax include men,
women, married or single, trustees and executors, families, villages and
indigenous communities. Though government can also raise funds through natural
resources such as oil, palm oil, coal and gas which are exported, those
alternative sources of income to government are hardly enough to shoulder the
burden of government expenditures, especially in the area of economic and
social spheres in each year, hence the need for tax payment.
We must emphasize
here that income Tax Law must be interpreted in strict- to- sensor. There is no
equity in tax law. The tax payer must be brought within the letter of the law
and rigid adherence is the rule. Nothing should be read in and nothing should
be implied. The onus of bringing a tax payer into the tax net is on the revenue
or assessment authority. Another important point to note is that tax is not
imposed on person or individual. Section 4 (1) of ITMA 1961 states that “the
tax shall subject to the provisions of this act, being payable for each year of
assessment upon income accruing in derived form, brought or received in
Nigeria. Studies have shown that in Nigeria, workers pay more than the rich
people who invest in various proper ties such as building, transporters, etc as
a result of ineffective administration of taxes. Yet those investors are the
category of people who would want government to move mountains in terms of
raising their socio-economic well being, without meaningfully contributing
towards the funds.
Now that our
various government are gearing efforts to revamping over bettered economy and
improving the living condition of Nigerians, the need for the evolvement of
more effective strategies to ensuring regular tax payment by taxable
individuals need not be overemphasized. Taxable adults and organizations in
various sectors of the economy must discharge their civic responsibilities.
Unfortunately, this can only be achieved if tax systems are effectively
administered so that people would in government revenue generation, willingly
and without grudges pay their taxes. This will result to improvement in
government revenue generation, hence the basis for this research study.