PERSONAL INCOME TAX ADMINISTRATION IN NIGERIA AND THE CRISES OF REVENUE ACCOUNTING:
PERSONAL INCOME TAX ADMINISTRATION IN NIGERIA AND THE CRISES OF REVENUE ACCOUNTING:
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Date
1999-08
Authors
JOSHUA, Gambo Garba
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Abstract
This research entitled Tax Administration and the Crisis of revenue Accounting
attempts to unravel the rudiments of taxation with a special emphasis on accounting
for the revenue derived from it. The interest on accountability derives its relevance
from the fact that apart from the controversy that goes along with it, direct taxation
as a source of revenue under the jurisdiction of State Governments in Nigeria, is a
difficult issue to administer. Its high cost of administration, low yield and the
kleptomanic tendencies of the tax administrators, amalgamate to make it a more
difficult issue when compared with the benefit derived.
No wonder Edmund Burke rightly pointed out that "to tax and to please, no
more than to love and be wise is not given to men"1 no matter how good that may be.
Although a good tax has no yard-stick given regard to Burke's opinion, in the
perception of Adam Smith however, (a good) tax "ought to be so contrived as both
to take out and keep out of the pockets of the people as little tax as possible over and
above what it brings into the treasury of the state"2. Since taking out this "little" is by
no means easy as a result of non compliance, the State Governments all over Nigeria
decided to enforce the tax payer's compliance by insisting on the presentation of Tax
Clearance Certificate, as an evidence of tax settlement, a compelling precondition for
obtaining many government services not only to educate the taxpayer on the rationale
of "rendering to Caesar what is Caesar's"3 but to compel his self-compliance with tax
legislations, thereby reducing the high cost of administration.
Without prejudice to the reduction in administrative cost, the problem of
accounting for the revenue derived from taxation still remains a knotty issue which
the Government has to contend with. Unless this problem is addressed very squarely,
all efforts of the government, in this regard, will completely be futile and a random
empirical wandering.
1. Colin Baker and M.J. Balogun. Ife Essavs in Administration University of Ife Press 1975, P. 134
2. Adam Smith. The Wealth of Nations, 1776 Book V (New York: Random House), Chapter II. Pan II.
3. Holy Bible, Mathevv. Chapter 22:15-22.
This is perhaps is the researcher's motivation for undertaking the research in this area
with emphasis on accounting for the revenue.
In view of the fact that principles and laws of taxation constitute the modu
operandi on which tax operations are founded, the research tried to find out the extent
to which these principles and laws are applied by the Kaduna State Government in its
administration of tax and how they are complied with by the taxpayers since non-
-compliance with the rules of a game easily changes clubs to trumps. These findings
have been carefully made. The studies that led to the findings took into account the
nature of the administrative structure of the organisation as well as the type of security
books used by the Board vis-a-vis its accounting procedures and the calibre of its
manpower.
The research findings reveal that the factors that led to the crisis of revenue
accounting are multi-dimensional commencing from the confused nature of the
Board's organisational structure, to the calibre of its manpower and its (the
manpower's) unholy marriage of convenience with the agents of deduction to beat the
tax authority at its own game. Therefore, since the Board has such a net-work of loose
internal controls, coupled with a characteristic of poor conditions of service, what do
you expect from a staff that is hungry and knows how to steal or bend the rules of the
game?.
It is against the background of these findings that the research looked critically
into the problems, their causes and profered recommendations for eradicating or
ameliorating them. Therefore rather than using the recommendations as a solution
to the problem, they should be viewed as suggestions
Description
PROJECT WORK SUBMITTED TO THE
POST GRADUATE SCHOOL AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY ZARIA
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE AWARD OF A MASTER'S DEGREE IN
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA)
DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY
ZARIA.
DATE: SEPTEMBER, 1999
Keywords
PERSONAL, INCOME,, ADMINISTRATION,, NIGERIA, CRISES,, REVENUE ACCOUNTING