Tax: Bill Gates Sends Message To Buhari On How To Increase Revenue

Bill Gates Advices Buhari

The federal government of Nigeria has been urged to develop more policies that will endear it to citizens and make it easier for them to understand its actions.

Bill Gates, one of the richest men in the World and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), gave this advice to the government while speaking via a teleconference with select journalists.

He said if the government does this, it will be easier to generate more revenue domestically to fund the nation’s development.

Gates noted that if the government gains credibility with the citizens, it won’t be difficult for them (citizens) to pay taxes, adding that Nigeria still has some of the smallest tax-to-GDP ratios anywhere in the world.

“One challenge that Nigeria has is that the amount of money that the government raises domestically is quite small compared to other countries,” The Cable quotes him as saying.

“A lot of countries at that level will be raising closer to 15 percent of GDP and Nigeria is one of the lowest in the world down at about 6 percent. And so, it is a huge challenge that when you want to fund infrastructure, health, education, all those things, that over time the tax collection, the domestic resources are going to have to go up quite a bit.

“That’s a long-term effort and I think partly by making sure the current resources are spent well like on primary health care, you gain the credibility that the citizens will say, okay, we want more of these things.

“If we don’t raise the quality, you can get into a trap where they don’t feel like paying the taxes actually has that much impact, and so they’re not supportive of that.”

Meanwhile, Naija News reports the federal government recently disclosed plans to increase Value Added Tax (VAT) from its current 5% to 7.5% as from the year 2020.

The proposal is however subject to approval by the country’s lawmakers.