A consortium of Civil Society Organisations, the Public Service International (PSI) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), have called on the Federal Government to stop giving tax incentives to multinationals.
Besides, they tasked the Nigerian government to ensure that rich Nigerians and politicians who receive bogus monthly package pay the right taxes that are commensurate to their earnings.
The group, which also includes the ActionAid Nigeria and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Nigeria, gave this position after a resolution made after a two-day workshop to commemorate the 2018 International Public Service Day, with the theme: “Increasing Trade Union and CSOs participation in the fight against IFFs in Nigeria.”
They noted that though, the government of Nigeria has taken major decisions in dealing with Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) and Asset theft in the country, it has to take some other steps to really actualise it.
In their recommendation after the meeting, they advised the Federal Government not to hand out any further discretionary tax incentives to companies and businesses.
“We urge the government to take steps to renegotiate those already in place, such as the setting up of a committee of parliament to provide oversight on the investment authority that grants tax incentives,” they said.
The group urged the Federal Government to set up a parliamentary committee to supervise the bodies that grants tax incentives such as the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council and the Free Zones Tax Administration.
ALSO READ: Loan without collateral to rise in 3rd quarter —CBN
They advised that this committee should be tasked with approving any new tax incentives.
They want the government to also be committed to and publish on an annual basis companies that are benefiting from statutory and discretionary tax incentives, and how much each company is benefiting from those incentives.
Besides, they said the government should strive to ensure transparency and accountability of its tax treaties negotiations through increased public and parliamentary scrutiny of the negotiating process.
According to the group, the Federal Government should also commit to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of all of its existing tax treaties; adding that “if treaties are considered detrimental to the amount of tax revenue that Nigeria can collect from multinational companies, Nigeria should consider renegotiating them.”
They advised Nigeria not to ratify any of the tax treaties it has signed in recent years which lowers withholding tax rates and gives away taxing rights.
The resolution said: “These treaties can be renegotiated before being ratified. Nigeria should avoid tax treaties with any countries and jurisdictions that could be used by multinational companies for treaty shopping.
“The government should ensure that tax reforms ultimately lead to a better tax-to-GDP ratio so that Nigeria has more revenue to spend on infrastructure, quality public services and decent wages for public sector workers.
“The three tiers of government should continue to work in partnership with trade unions and civil society organisations on ways to drastically reduce multiple taxation on businesses, especially on workers, indigent persons and small businesses.”
The resolution added that the trade unions and CSOs have resolved to continue to work to improve and increase tax awareness and education of the general public with the view to cultivate a Nigerian public conscious of tax issues and happy to pay their taxes.
They also resolved to effectively mobilised and vigilantly monitor governance at all tiers.