Budget implementation: Senate to go after tax defaulters

The Senate today mandated its committee on Banking, Insurance and other financial institutions to enforce the level of enforcement of tax payments by companies operating in Nigeria.The motion, sponsored by Senator Bassey Otuh(Cross River state), who is also the chairman of the Senate committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, seeks to increase the federal government's internally generated revenue.'In order for us to achieve the level of implementation of the budget 2012 and to guarantee sustainability of our GDP growth rate, and to allow government to be able to provide social amenities that it is supposed to, the only way is to expand our revenue base'.The motion notes that corporate companies operating in Nigeria withhold taxes and VAT which forms the bulk of tax revenue to the government.With this submission, Senator Smart Adeyemi (Kogi state), asked the senate to adopt measures to check the high living standards of some Nigerians.'Some people import all sorts of vehicles, and do not even pay tax for it. We must put some mechanisms in place to further bridge the gap between the rich and the poor'Some of the Senators were of the opinion that tax evaders should be sanctioned.Deputy Senate president Ike Ekweremadu who presided over plenary today summarily said there was need for proper data to be obtained and updated, where every taxpaying person can be captured.'In Nigeria, we don't seem to have enough statistics to support the collection of taxes. They collect taxes from only Public and civil servants because they are the only ones with an updated database. It is important that we start to build a statistics capacity'.
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