AN APPRAISAL OF THE PROBLEMS OF TAX EVASION AND AVOIDANCE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Every country in the world needs revenue to run its affairs. The revenue is needed for infrastructural development, provision of essential services such as education, health care; etc. One of the major sources of revenue for the government in living up to its obligations in this regard is taxation. Taxes constitute a building block of civilization as they pay for public services which benefit all and sundry. It is further established that taxation is a fundamental social obligation in the modern epoch as well as the cornerstone of all economies. Flowing from the above, it is crystal clear that taxes are necessary for the effective running of a country. Therefore, anything which assails against its collection or leads to a diminution in the amount collected must be frowned at by all. In Nigeria at the moment, it is common knowledge that the economy has been decimated by dwindling oil revenues. This has led to a debilitating reduction in the amount of revenue generated, a problem exacerbated by the chronic problems of tax evasion and tax avoidance amongst Nigerian taxpayers. This unfortunate situation stimulated the interest of the researchers to review the aforesaid problems, their causes and most especially, practical solutions to aggressively tackle them. In doing this, the authors have adopted the doctrinal research methodology which necessitated a review of statutes, case laws and the opinions of scholars on the issue. It is the finding of the authors that the Nigerian tax system needs a total and complete overhauling in order to achieve its tax target. On the basis of this finding, recommendations are made which, if implemented, would lead to a significant repositioning of the Nigerian tax system and thereby, improve the revenue generated from tax in Nigeria.