Background to the study.
The importance of taxation in the activities of any government cannot
be overemphasized. This is due to the fact that tax plays a pivotal
role in generating revenue for the government, however, not every
national government have been able to effectively exploit this great
opportunity of revenue generation (Anyaduba et al 2012:37). The level of
tax compliance in Nigeria has been a popular topic of discourse and it
has been said that several efforts of government to increase the
compliance of citizens towards tax payment have proved abortive.
According to Ubesi and Edeh (2016:60), tax is a compulsory contribution
imposed by government against the income, profits, wealth, property, and
consumption of individuals and corporate organizations to enable
government obtain the required revenue to provide basic amenities,
security, and well-being of the citizens.
Tax morale is a very important and integral attitude that impacts on
tax compliance. According to (Torgler 2002) cited in (Ubesi and Edeh
2016:61), tax morale is defined as the intrinsic motivation to pay
taxes. They stress its relevance to understand the high observed level
of compliance.High tax morale is required from the taxpayer in order to
achieve a high degree of tax compliance. taxation is one of the most
volatile subjects in governance both in the developing and developed
countries. It has been established that there is a positive relationship
between tax morale and tax compliance in Nigeria, that is, the higher
the intrinsic motivation to pay tax, the higher the tax compliance.
However, it has been discovered that a lot of factors tend to influence
tax morale and tax compliance in Nigeria among which is the government
performance. Some researchers have in fact defined tax as a compulsory
contribution imposed by government and while tax payers may receive
nothing identifiable in return for their contribution.
Statement of the problem.
Over the years, tax compliance has been a major issue Nigerian
government has faced. This is due to the fact that some citizens don't
pay tax while the ones that pay either don't pay the complete amount or
they don't pay on time. Low tax compliance is a matter of serious
concern in many developing countries especially Nigeria given the fact
that it limits the capacity of the government to raise revenue for
developmental purposes (Ubesi and Edeh 2016:60). This has made this
topic well documented, however, much emphasis haven't been on analysing
tax morale in Nigeria. Hence, the study intends to fill the gap in the
literature by making a comprehensive analysis of tax morale and tax
college in Nigeria. This will explain the tax morale of Nigerian
citizens and their level of compliance to payment of tax.
Objectives of the study.
The main objective of this study is to analyse tax morale and tax
compliance in Nigeria. In order to achieve this, the study aims to
achieve the following specific objectives:
1.) To determine the extent to which tax morale have effect on tax compliance.
2.) To understand the factors that affect tax morale in Nigeria
3.) To examine the effect of the Nigerian tax system on tax morale of taxpayers.
4.) To ascertain the effect of trust in government on tax compliance.
Research Questions.
1.) What is the significant effect of tax morale on tax compliance in Nigeria.
2.) What determines the tax morale of Nigerian citizens
3.) How would trust in Nigerian tax system affect tax compliance and to what extent has it affected it in Nigeria?
Scope of the study.
This study gives a broad analysis of tax morale and compliance in
Nigeria. It covers factors that influence the tax morale of citizens and
further explains how these factors have affected their compliance to
tax payment.
Significance of the study
This study is very important as it plays an important role in
shedding light to the non-economic factors that affect tax compliance,
hence helping government to pay attention to the factors that influence
the willingness of citizens to pay tax and improve on them, thereby
improving peoples' willingness to pay tax, government revenue and
economic growth and development of the nation in general.
Research Hypothesis.
1.) There is no significant relationship between tax morale and tax compliance in Nigeria
2.) There is significant relationship between tax morale and tax compliance in Nigeria.
Limitation of the study
Given the fact that the topic of taxation is not a topic that people
have interest in, there was constraint in gathering materials. There is
issue of secrecy in releasing information and also less interest in
giving response to questions in a bid to gather data.
Definition of terms
Tax- is defined as a compulsory levy imposed on citizens in order to generate revenue for the government.
Tax morale- refers to the intrinsic motivation to pay tax.
Tax compliance- refers to the reporting of tax liability to the
relevant authorityin compliance with applicable tax laws, regulation and
court. It can also be defined as a process in which taxpayers file all
the required tax returns by declaring all income accurately and paying
the exact tax liability using applicable tax laws and regulation
(Abdusalam et al 2014: 23)
References
1.) Abdulsalam M., Aliyu A., and Gambo E. (2014), "Tax Rate and Tax compliance in Africa" European Journal of Accounting Auditing and Finance Research 2(3): 22-30
2.) Akintoye, I and Tashie, G. (2013), "The Effect of Tax Compliance
on Economic Growth and Development in Nigeria, West Africa" British Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 2(2): 222-231.
3.) Anyaduba J., Eragbhe E., and Kennedy M. (2012), "Deterrent Tax Measures and Tax Compliance in Nigeria", European Journal of Business and Management 4(11): 37-45.
4.) Ubesi, M. and Edeh,C.(2016), "Effect of Tax Morale and Tax Compliance in Revenue Generation in Nigeria" IDOSR Journal of Scientific Research 1(1): 59-80.