The Executive Director, Rural Women and Youth Development (RUWOYD), Sokoto State, Abudu Yusufu has urged governments to institute effective tax structures to increase the size of national budgets by raising corporate tax payment.
Speaking at a Stakeholders Forum on Tax and Gender-Responsive schools under the ActionAid initiative of ‘Tax Justice & Gender Responsive Public Services and Breaking Barriers’, he said, “Effective tax structures can create incentives to improve governance, strengthen channels of political representations and reducing corruption.” He noted that “fair and effective tax collection is effective for collecting revenue to deliver services that citizens need. It is a powerful tool for redistributing wealth within society to address poverty and inequality. “A functioning state that can meet the basic needs of its people must rely ultimately on its revenue to meet development objectives,” he said. Yusufu said tax is fair when it helps reduce poverty and fulfil human rights, that is, when tax takes little from the poor, more from the rich and when taxes are used to pay for public services. He added: “This means that VAT is low, that tax exemptions exist for basic products that help poor people; that tax is not charged many times on the same thing, and that no huge tax increases happen for poor people year on year.”

Source: daily trust

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