Women in taxation: Experts advocate broaden tax base for development

Experts at the 2019 annual seminar of the Society of Women in Taxation (SWIT) have advised government to broaden its tax base so as to garner more revenue for more development projects in the country. The seminar, held in Abuja on Tuesday, was anchored on the theme: “Taxation: A Sustainable Tool for National Development”. Leading […]

Experts at the 2019 annual seminar of the Society of Women in Taxation (SWIT) have advised government to broaden its tax base so as to garner more revenue for more development projects in the country.

The seminar, held in Abuja on Tuesday, was anchored on the theme: “Taxation: A Sustainable Tool for National Development”.

Leading the conversation, one of the speakers and the Deputy Director, Finance and Investment of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Mrs. Gloria Ese Olotu, in her paper titled: “Essentials of Taxation for Socio-Economic Development”, noted that there was no viable, long-term and sustainable alternative to taxation as a means to financing government expenditure.

Mrs. Olotu recommended four areas for countries keen on developing their economies through taxation: idea of flat taxes, taxing agriculture, paying attention to local government taxation and broadening tax base.

Also speaking on the importance of a broaden tax base, the Chairperson of the seminar, Mrs. Justina Okoror, said what this meant was that government must be able to expand to the interior to increase the number of people that paid taxes.

On her part, the incoming Chairperson of SWIT, Kudirat Abdulhamid, said the people would benefit in the long run from paying their taxes as government would be able to fix major infrastructure without having to resort to borrowing, which she said was similar to mortgaging the nation and the lives of the citizens.

Earlier, the National Chairperson of SWIT, Barr. Ezinwa Okoroafor, said SWIT was established to promote the interest of women in tax policies, laws and practices in partnership with its parent body, the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN).