Mr Taiwo Oyedele, Dean, Faculty of Direct Taxation, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), says harmonisation of tax legislations will address the challenges of multiple taxation in the country.
Oyedele made the observation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Saturday.
He also said there was need to review some of the laws in the constitution that empowered the three tiers of government to legislate on some issues, especially taxes.
“When governments pass laws on taxes, we find out that there are complaints about multiple taxations. It is not the fault of the government but the constitution that says they can pass the laws.
“So part of the harmonisation is that there is limit to which government can pass a law. Government cannot just wake-up one day and pass a law the way they like,” he said.
Oyedele said the Manufacturers Associations of Nigeria (MAN) recently presented a document on the impact of multiple taxations on taxpayers to the National Economic Council (NEC).
He said that a committee had been constituted to by NEC to discuss how to resolve it to ease tax burden on taxpayers.
“Some of the issues are that we need to streamline and harmonise those taxes.
“For instance in some states, waste disposals and gas flaring are all about environment, we can simply put them together under environmental taxes.
“Similarly the person bringing his cattle from the North to Lagos should not be paying taxes in all the states he crosses rather, he should pay where he load and offload,” he said.
Oyedele assured taxpayers of improved tax system when the existing tax laws were completely harmonised.