FG To Leverage Data To Stimulate Tax Revenue

The Federal Government as part of its effort to curb the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the nation’s economy said it would leverage available data to stimulate revenue.

The data to be provided by the National Bureau of Statistics would enable the Federal Government actualize its 15 per cent revenue to Gross Domestic Product ratio target by 2023.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Zainab Ahmed, said on Thursday at a Webinar organised by the NBS that in boosting revenue base, it is not enough to block leakages but also develop new sources of revenue and policies through accurate data.

The Special Adviser to the President on Finance and Economy
Dr Sarah Alade, said that data has remained an indispensable tool for development.

He said the current revenue to GDP ratio of eight per cent is far below the desired ratio of 15 percent hence the need to use data to increase tax collection, efficiency, compliance and the overall revenue generation.

He said, “Unless we have up to 12 per cent revenue to GDP ratio, we cannot achieve the devloment we desire, hence we have to increase our tax collection, compliance and efficiency through the use of data.

“Another issues we have to determine in tax revenue generation is the lack of trust between citizens and the government , we can only encourage citizens to pay tax and ensure taxes are used judiciously.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us our weakness as a nation, hence we have to develop policies to incentivize economic growth by providing opportunity to open data and using data to coordinate the affairs of the country.”

The Statistician General of the Federation, Dr Yemi Kale, said that the importance of data in nation building cannot be overemphasized.

He said data aids effective policy making process, provide clear objectives and aid monitoring and evaluation of policies to meet desired result.

He said, “We have realized that there are a lot of revenues out there that have not been collected as many people are still not in the tax net, hence the need to leverage data to ensure that adequate taxes are charged.

“Data provide clear objective in all aspects of our lives to aid decision making, monitoring and evaluation of policy to meet initial aims. Without data, we cannot make well informed decision.”

Kale further noted that covid-19 which was first seen as a public health crisis has escaleted into global economic crisis, adding that there is need for the governmnet to make use of data to develop framework to cushion its impact.