AN APPRAISAL OF THE PROBLEMS OF TAX EVASION AND AVOIDANCE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Every country in the world needs revenue to run its affairs. The revenue is needed for infrastructural development,provision of essential services such as education, health care; etc. One of the major sources of revenue for thegovernment in living up to its obligations in this regard is taxation. Taxes constitute a building block ofcivilization as they pay for public services which benefit all and sundry. It is further established that taxation is afundamental social obligation in the modern epoch as well as the cornerstone of all economies. Flowing from theabove, it is crystal clear that taxes are necessary for the effective running of a country. Therefore, anything whichassails against its collection or leads to a diminution in the amount collected must be frowned at by all. In Nigeriaat the moment, it is common knowledge that the economy has been decimated by dwindling oil revenues. This hasled to a debilitating reduction in the amount of revenue generated, a problem exacerbated by the chronic problemsof tax evasion and tax avoidance amongst Nigerian taxpayers. This unfortunate situation stimulated the interestof the researchers to review the aforesaid problems, their causes and most especially, practical solutions toaggressively tackle them. In doing this, the authors have adopted the doctrinal research methodology whichnecessitated a review of statutes, case laws and the opinions of scholars on the issue. It is the finding of the authorsthat the Nigerian tax system needs a total and complete overhauling in order to achieve its tax target. On the basisof this finding, recommendations are made which, if implemented, would lead to a significant repositioning of theNigerian tax system and thereby, improve the revenue generated from tax in Nigeria.