TAX REFORMS ACT AND THE NIGERIAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background to the Study

This project work is to enable us to understand the tax reform and Nigerian economy development.

Early life in Nigeria did not see much of taxation. The economy was mostly self contained the lives of the people conducted by mere exchange of goods and services the people were living in a restricted geographical area, all land belonged to the state and the public service are provided by the state. The king would send round his tax collector to collect direct from the public services. The town criers were used and failure to comply will face the penalties from the king.

As the economy developed and become more complicated, and as the society become more complex, the role of taxation has become much more important and the imposition of tax become an instrument of economy development and social change. It is a key factor in shaping the fiscal policy, monetary and the investment policies of the government.

Every government has to determine what type of taxes is mostly suited for the country and to what extent each person should be taxed. The choice of tax and the rate of tax depend on the long-term objective of the government. It depends on whether a government wants to affect a re-distribution of wealth it intends to allow a completely free enterprise with no other Social Consideration.

In another way round, taxation is an essential element in speeding the pace of development through f saving and investment equitable distribution of income yet many fiscal system tend to have the opposite effect through overt and covert distribution against favour of capital. The increase or decrease in the routes of income tax can have deflationary or inflationary effects since such increased or decreased affect the amount of money available to the private sector of the economy.

1.2   Statement of Problem

Taxes had been seen as one of the major source of government revenue of any nation. Though, there are a lot of problem faced in collecting taxes, some of the problem are as follows.

Individual and private companies usually declare false profit or income so as to prevent correct assessment by the tax official by this; they know that the official will only levy taxes on the amount of income directed. Another problem is the corruption on the part of tax collector. Not only that the tax payers are under assessed but the tax officials do this for their selfish ends.

Also ignorance on the part of the tax payer constitutes another problem. Some among them do not know the reason why they should pay tax. They even thought that the money so called belong to the official.

As such, they avoid every responsibility of paying taxes. Besides some people also disagree in paying tax despite the fact that they know that it is compulsory for them to pay. The farmers also complain that the time of collections is not convenient for them and that recommendation should be made to the government for the collection of tax during the harvest period.

Against this backdrop, the researcher intends to carryout an investigation to examine how tax reforms can be used to fill this gap that exist while tax payers compliance’s yet to received reasonable degree of compliance.

1.3   Research Questions

For the purpose of this study, the following research questions have been designed to guide this study:

1.     Does the payment of taxes imposed by the government of a nation have any negative impact on the citizens?

2.     Does the private individual, business undertaking and corporate bodies have any benefit on the payment of tax at the appropriate time?

3.     Is there any problem encountered by the officials or administrators during the time of collecting taxes?

1.4   Objectives of the Study

The main objective of the study is to examine the tax reforms and the economic development of a nation. While the specific objectives are:

1.     To enlighten the citizen on the importance of paying taxes imposed by the government towards the economy development of the nation.

2.     To educate the private individual, business undertaking and corporate bodies on the useful benefit that they might derive by paying taxes at the appropriate time.

3.     To give the officials or administrators necessary information that may enhance and intimate the problem encountered during the time of collecting taxes.

1.5   Statement of Hypothesis

To achieve a meaningful objective of this work, the hypothesis has been formulated to enhance the authentication of the subject matter. That is, the hypothesis will be tested in a null form, denoted by Ho and the alternative form denoted by HI.

Ho: Tax reform does not have a negative impact on the economy development of Nigeria.

HI:    Tax reform has a negative impact on the economy development of Nigeria.

1.6   Significance of the Study

The writer has the eager hope that at the end of this study, the finding will be useful to the following people: student, teacher, and the government. This would enable the student to be aware of the reason for paying taxes.

Also to the teachers, this will help them as far as payment of taxes in the country is concerned so as to enable them to plan their course contents with regards to facts and figures for students understanding.

Lastly, the study should be a guide to the state, local and federal government as a whole when plunging for its annual budget with regards to economic development of the nation.

1.7   Scope of the Study

This study is restricted to tax reform and the Nigerian economic development. It is designed to cover the meaning of taxation and its reform in Nigerian economy development and it falls within the time frame of 2008 – 2013 using a sample size of 50 for effective survey.

1.8   Limitation of the Study

In writing this project, so many problems were encountered, which are listed below:

• Geographical Coverage: Factor that may likely affect the work is the issue of investigating the concerned people in carrying out the research work.
• Problem of sourcing for material: The research was faced with problems of getting current materials, textbooks, journals and seminar papers related to subject matter.

1.9   Definition of Terms

Taxation: This is a compulsory levy impose by the government on the citizen of a country.

Fiscal Year: This is the period that runs from first January to thirty first December each year.

Excise Duties: These are taxes levied on home or locally produced goods. They are imposed by the government in order to generate more revenue locally.

Tax Base: This is the income of a taxable person on which tax is charged. It could also be described as that good or services which is subject to tax.

Government Assessment: This is a system of assessment whereby the tax payer provides the necessary information to the tax authority concerning it income on an income tax return form.

Self Assessment: This is a system of assessment whereby the tax payers carries out the assessment himself and compute the amount of tax due on his income and pay such tax to state board of internal revenue.

Basis Period: This is the length of the period to which the assessment relates. It could be less than one year or more than one year, or exactly one year.

Incidence of Tax: This is the effect of tax burden on the taxpayers. It is that point at which the tax burden finally rest.

Earned Income: This is the income derive from a trade, business, profession, vocation or employment carried on or exercised by the tax payer as well as any pension derived from a previous employment.

Unearned Income: This means income derived from an investment that does not relate to any reward for personal services rendered.

Tax Avoidance: This can be described as the act of making use of the loopholes in the tax law so as to reduce the amount of tax that would have otherwise been paid. i.e. arranging ones tax affairs, making use of the tax allowance and loopholes so as to reduce ones tax liability.

Tax Evasion: This is the failure to disclose the correct income that should be assessed either by misstatement of facts, falsification of figures, filing of incorrect returns or by misrepresentation of tax liabilities.

Tax Liability: This is the incidence of effect of tax on the tax payers.

Inflation: It is a continuous and persistent rise in the general level of price of goods and services.
Deflation: This is the continuous and persistent fall in the General level of price of goods and services.

Tax Holiday: This is a kind of encouragement given to the infant industries so as not to pay tax given period of time or year.

Annuity: This is an annual payment by one person to another.

Gratuities: These are also kind of thank you payment to a long serving employee when he is on retirement.
Investment: This is an expenditure on goods and services which are not met for current consumption.

Aggregate Income: This is the total income of a taxable Person from all sources put together for a year of assessment.

Chargeable Income: This is the net value on which income tax will be assessed after relief will be claimed.