More than 32 million Nigerians eligible to pay tax have refused to exercise their civic responsibility, the Budget Office of the Federation, reports.
Mr Ben Akabueze, the Director General of the Budget Office, said Nigeria has revenue-generating challenge because of the refusal of these Nigerians to pay tax.
He added that with an inflation forecast of 13 percent for the 2022 fiscal year, and the Federal Government’s aggregate expenditure is projected to be N16.39 trillion, 12.5 percent higher than the 2021 budget, Nigeria is ‘assets-rich’.
With N6.2 trillion as projected budget deficit in 2022, representing 3.39 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Akabueze said the deficit would be “financed by additional borrowings.”
He disclosed this at an interactive session with media executives, civil society, non-governmental organisations as well as other stakeholders on the 2022 budget, at the weekend.
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“…Government’s target over the medium term is to grow our revenue-to-GDP ration from about 8-9 percent where it is currently to 15 percent by 2025.
“At that level of revenues, the debt service-to-revenue ration will then cease to be a critical concern…
“We must, however, continue to rationalise as we cannot afford waste.
“In reality, our largest expenditure items are currently personnel cost, debt service and capital expenditure which between them account for 85 percent of the 2022 budget. There’s very little scope for cut in any of these over the medium term.
“The most viable solution to our fiscal challenge, therefore, remains to grow our revenues and plug all leakages.
“According to the Joint Tax Board, only N41 million Nigerians are in the tax pool. So, that’s over 30 million Nigerians not paying their fair share (of tax). These are anonymous people, within the system, making tonnes of money. So, how do we get these people to pay their fair share?
“Governments in Nigeria are not spending too much. They are actually spending too little. Fifteen percent is the public expenditure ratio to the GDP. Cutting public expenditure is not a viable option for us. The only viable solution is to fix our revenue generation.
