Expert Gives Panacea For Tax Collection

A senior partner in the tax firm of Ikata, Ikata and company, Mr. Iduonku Ikata, has called for an aggressive tax collection system to stem the tide of evasion in the country.

Ikata, who stated this while speaking to our correspondent in Port Harcourt recently said this could be achieved through a holistic approach to tax collection with a view to streamline the process.

He said while some individuals and corporate organizations pay their taxes as at when due, some take advantage of the lax system to evade tax payments.

On the issue of double taxation which some organizations complained about, he said such excesses were counter productive and does not encourage business growth.

He said the system used by employers of labour to deduct taxes from their employees was in the right direction.

Ikata also advocated for the setting up of system for monitoring tax payments by companies in the system by relevant government agencies to forestall double taxation and evasion.

On the use of Task Forces by local councils in the country for the purposes of tax collection, the tax expert said so long as such task forces were not over politicised, it could bring sanity to the tax collection system.

According to him, such bodies should have terms of reference and those engaged in such matters should be properly trained to avoid manhandling members of the public.

Throwing more light, he opined that public servants whose taxes were deducted at source are the only ones that pay taxes as at when due.

For companies, especially the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) much attention was needed to focus on their activities to enable them pay their taxes.

According to him, a lot of money was being lost to the government as many business people hide under the cloak of the inactivity of tax collection process to evade tax.

He said with the coming in of a new administration after the 2015 elections the future looks bright for tax matters in the country.