Panelists and discussants at a webinar organised by OTISVIP at the weekend have called on Nigerians to embrace taxation as the new normal of national fiscal policy.
The webinar with the theme “Stamp Duty: The New Black Gold?” had executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Muhammad Nami as a major participant.
It was hosted by Jake Effoduh, a Partner at Praxis & Gnosis Law.
Panelists on the online discussion were Dr. Alexander Ezenagu, an assistant professor of taxation at HBKU, Qatar; managing partner, Sprout Digital, Damilola Anwo-Ade; director, VoguePay, Malam Mohammed Jega; managing director, Trace Anglophone West Africa, Sam Onyemelukwe; founder, The Alpha Reach, Japheth Omojuwa; and director, Tax Policy, FIRS, Mathew Gbonjubola.
According to a statement by director, Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS, Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad, other management staff of the FIRS who participated in the webinar included Dr Asheikh Madugu.
Nami set the ball rolling with a detailed clarification on the Stamp Duty Act in Nigeria, which included the types of transactions dutiable under the Act as well as the respective applicable rates.
Thereafter, the panelists set up the discussions, which was enlivened by a live chat and simultaneous question and answer session.
While all panelists agreed on the need for taxation to complement government’s revenue flow from natural resources, a lively debate ensued on the timing of the stamp duty campaign and the public debate surrounding the application of tax revenue in the nation-building processes, especially in building public infrastructure.
The panelists stressed the need for prudent management of tax revenue even as they enjoined Nigerians to embrace the fact that the tax net needs to get wider to accommodate more citizens for holistic national development.
Gbonjubola stated that Nigerians must reassess the widespread notion that the country is rich, stressing: “In terms of Gross Domestic Product vis-à-vis our population, Nigeria is not a rich country when compared to a country like Botswana.”
He also stated that the stamp duty is levied on the instrument of transaction and not on the payment itself.
Gbonjubola clarified that the 6 per cent stamp duty is for tenancy above 21 years, while seven to 21 years lease or tenancy attracts 3 per cent and less than seven-year tenancy is below 1 per cent.
Dr Ezenagu urged governments at all levels to focus on expanding economic activities through economic diversification, stressing that this would have the positive effect of increasing the tax base as there would be more economic activities to tax, instead of increasing taxation on the citizenry.
