Tax Identification Number revolution

All taxable adults must obtain a Tax Identification Number (TIN). In England a potato seller pays tax; to sell in the market, you must have a TIN which must be produced on demand. If your tax is deducted at source, your employer must collect your TIN which must be disclosed on the pay slip. If you are a pensioner, your employer must obtain one even if it will disclose “exempt.”

As a farmer or herdsman, whether your cows are ranched or not, you must obtain one. Are you a landlord or landlady?  That is the climax of the revolution. You must have a TIN. The withholding tax on rent alone is enough to finance our budgets. What about stamp duties on rent agreements? That is the revolution. Stiff penalties should be imposed on would-be pinchers and plunderers of the harvest of this revolution.

Actually this is the “RevolutionNow” Nigeria needs to enable us pursue developmental goals. The year 2020 is a leap year and we can leap into greatness but for the seed of corruption sown into the psyche of Nigerians by politicians since independence.

The wickedness of corrupt politicians is at the heart of Nigeria’s woes. Are Nigerians going to regenerate or degenerate further into the abyss of darkness in 2020? On the change of guard in Federal Inland Revenue Service and the drive to generate more revenue into the coffers of government, the problem is with the professional accountants, the consultants engaged who are always in cahoots with companies they manage their accounts and tax liabilities.

The new helmsman in FIRS is from that sector. Their foot-soldiers are the problem; the top managers peruse few working papers and append their signatures on largely doctored draft accounts. In Nigeria, both leaders and followers lack the moral fibre that can bring us out of the hole we have dug ourselves in.

Nigeria can leap into exemplary status in Africa if we do not throw the baby out with the bath water as a result of the stench of corruption, profligacy, lack of transparency, lying and nepotism. Will the pill be bitter to swallow? All are guilty on the matter of tax evasion, probably out of ignorance.

Olayinka Olukoya-Jimoh,

Ijebu-Ode.