AS the nation continues to grapple with dwindling revenue due to the global downturn of crude oil prices, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) yesterday said that Nigerians must realise that the days of oil boom are over.
FIRS therefore advised the Federal Government to adopt tax as alternative source of revenue.
“The people and also the three tiers of government in Nigeria should know that period of huge oil revenues are gone forever, that we can no longer continue to rely on revenues from oil for our budgetary allocations. What is left for us now as a nation is to rely on revenues from taxation. So any organisation or individual earning an income or making profit will have no option but to pay tax.”
This was stated yesterday by the Acting Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mr. Babatunde Fowler, when he held an interactive meeting with members of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) in Abuja.
Fowler, who condemned the suggestion that tax laws should be reviewed in Nigeria, said such move was not necessary but that, “all we have to do is to ensure that the right thing is done. People and organisations should be 99 or 100 percent compliant to pay what is due and when it is due. When we see what we have, we can confidently plan on it.”
He assured the CITN delegation that FIRS will collaborate with the Institute to put in place a working committee that will assist both organisations to clear any outstanding issues between them.
He promised that FIRS will continue to ensure a robust relationship with the Institute even as he promised that the revenue body was prepared to fund the CITN conference coming up soon.
Earlier, the President, CITN, Dr. Olateju Somorin, informed the Acting Chairman of the FIRS that the institute is putting together its Charter of Tax Demands to President Muhammadu Buhari.
