Oyo state Governor, Seyi Makinde has urged members of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) and other stakeholders in the revenue generation sector in the country to adopt humane strategy and understanding before co-opting the informal sectors into its tax net.
The Governor who stated this while declaring open the 157th Joint Tax Board meeting in Ibadan also called for an increase in production, knowledge and skills to galvanize Nigerians towards transforming the nation’s natural resources and potentials into economic prosperity.
At the meeting with the theme, “Taxation of the informal sector: Potentials and Challenges”, Governor Seyi Makinde explained the informal sector is the backbone of the local economy and should be engaged technologically for meaningful impact.
He charged the stakeholders to consider modalities to deepen partnership with the informal sector, such that dragging them into the tax net would be based on understanding rather than enforcement
In his address at the event, the chairman of the Joint Tax Board and Executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dr Zach Adedeji cautioned against any attempt of adding tax burden on the poor and charged the meeting to focus on conceiving strategies to formalize the informal sector before any tax attempt.
Earlier in his welcome address, chairman of the Oyo state internal revenue service, Femi Awakan disclosed how the Seyi Makinde’s led administration has drastically boosted the IGR of the state, noting that with the Oyo experience, there is no challenge too tough to surmount in widening the tax net of any economy.
Assuring that the 2 days meeting would achieve expected objectives, the secretary of the JTB Dr. Olusegun Adesokan, acknowledged that all participants would technically brainstorm and develop a workable template for the benefit of Nigeria’s economy.
