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An Examination Of Problems And Prospects Of Real Property Taxation In Nigeria
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The subject of taxation has received
considerable intellectual and theoretical attention in the literature.
Taxation is one of the most volatile subjects in governance both in the
developing and developed nations. Tax refers to a “compulsory levy by a
public authority for which nothing is received directly in returnâ€
(James and Nobes, 1992). According to Nightingale (2001), “a tax is
compulsory contribution, imposed by government, and while taxpayers may
receive nothing identifiable in return for their contribution, they
nevertheless have the benefit of living in a relatively educated,
healthy and safe societyâ€. She further explains that taxation is part of
the price to be paid for an organized society and identified six
reasons for taxation: provision of public goods, redistribution of
income and wealth, promotion of social and economic welfare, economic
stability and harmonization and regulation.
In other words, a tax is
an imposed levy by the government against the income, profits, property,
wealth and consumption of individuals and corporate organizations to
enable government obtain the required revenue to provide basic
amenities, security and well-being of the citizens. First detailed
information about taxation can be found in Ancient Egypt (Webber and
Wildavsky,1986). The Pharaohs appointed tax collectors (called scribes)
and paid them high salaries to reduce the incentives to enrich
themselves. Furthermore, scribes working in the field were controlled by
a group of special scribes from head office. Today, corruption of the
tax agency is still a problem, especially in developing countries.
Nigeria
is governed by a Federal system and the government’s fiscal power is
based on a three- tier tax structure divided among the Federal, State,
and Local governments, each of which has different tax jurisdictions.
The Nigerian tax system is lopsided. The federal government controls all
the major sources of revenue like import and excise duties, mining
rents and royalties, petroleum profit tax and company income tax, value
added tax among other revenue sources. State and local government taxes
are minimal, hence, this limits their ability to raise independent
revenue and so they depend solely on allocation from Federation Account.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]Increasing demand for urban infrastructures on land and dwindling revenue allocations in Nigeria have informed the Rivers State Government to promulgate Land Use Charge Law (2001) as a way of increasing internally-generated revenues through property tax. The Law stipulates a formula for assessing the Charge payable on properties in Lagos State, amongst other provisions. The aim of this research is to identify the problems and prospects of real property taxation in Nigeria ... Continue reading---
