Lagos — The Joint Tax Board (JTB) has been called upon to hand over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), tax collectors and evaders, who divert proceeds from taxes for personal and selfish use for prosecution so that effective tax administration and control could be achieved.

The call, according to a communique, was the only way stiffer penalties could be imposed on tax evaders, who before now had irrespective of position in government and social status, been having a field day evading tax.

Rising from a one-day conference on taxation in Lagos, organised by the Lagos Ecclesiastical Province of Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), comprising of Lagos Archdioceses, Abeokuta and Ijebu-Ode Dioceses of Ogun State respectively, the stakeholders demanded that "there should be a standardised tax assessment tools that should be reviewed on a regular basis".

Besides, they also requested that "incomes and salaries of top government functionaries from the federal, state and local governments should be taxed".

While deliberating on the theme: "Nigeria's Taxation: Winners and Losers", the stakeholders argued that "research and documentation especially on statistics of taxable adults should be a continuous process, where professional bodies like CITN should partner with civil society organizations with the aim of ensuring a better tax regime that is pro-poor".

The event, which had the Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos and Chairman, Catholic Bishops Conference, Lagos Ecclesiastical Province, His Eminence Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie and President/Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Taxation Nigeria (CITN), Mr. Gabriel Foluso Fasoto, the stakeholders observed that "government should devote more attention on collection of oil tax, which accounts for 98 per cent of government revenue, as most tax payers are ignorant of the principles of taxation".

According to them, "a greater percentage of the revenue generated from tax is expended on recurrent expenditure (administrative purposes) rather than for capital projects that would benefit majority of the citizenry".

untry's tax system, the stakeholders stated that "the use of contractors and touts should be totally discouraged and stopped, because of their unconventional methods of constant harassments and intimidation of the people moreso as tax policy should be people centered, people friendly, and community-driven".

"The entire tax system should be computerised and decentralized to reduce multiple taxation and fraud. Professional bodies like CITN should partner with civil society organizations with the aim of ensuring a better tax regime that is pro-poor. Civil Societies Groups NGOs and CBOs should educate the masses on the need to pay taxes. Government in fulfillment of the social contract with the people should use revenue accruing from taxes of any form for the development and economic empowerment of the people. A situation where more than 70 per cent of our common wealth is used for administrative purposes is unacceptable", the communique added.

The participants further called on governments at all levels to make judicious use of tax proceeds for the benefit of the people, stating that these will encourage the people to pay tax.

"It was also resolved that Civil Society Organisations (CSO) have an important role to play in advocating and ensuring the emergence of a transparent tax system in the country", the communique said.