Governments across Africa must begin to rethink governance, engender public confidence and trust in government by providing value for taxpayers’ money in line with their obligations under the social contract they have with citizens.
This was the call made to African Governments by the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Muhammad Nami, at the opening of the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) 7th General Assembly, held in Lagos, on Tuesday.
Nami, who made this call in his opening remarks to the 7th General Assembly, themed: “Rethinking Revenue Strategies: The Human Face of Taxation,” added that it was imperative for African Tax Administrators to mobilise and speak with one voice as a regional bloc on global tax issues for their collective interests.
“The Fiscal social contract which hinges on the willingness of the citizens to pay tax in return for the provision of public service, is a clarion call on the government at all levels in Africa to rethink governance.
“In my view, if we must transform the tax system and enhance revenue collection in Africa, there is a need for the government at all levels to engender public confidence and trust by providing value for taxpayers’ money,” Nami said.
Nami also urged governments to reconsider how projects are reported in the public space, with such reports communicating to convey the idea that taxpayers’ money is used to fund infrastructure projects.
…if we must transform the tax system and enhance revenue collection in Africa, there is a need for the government at all levels to engender public confidence and trust by providing value for taxpayers’ money.
Similarly, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the Executive Chairman, Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Hamzat Subair, stressed the need to give taxation a human face, by implementing projects with taxpayers’ moneys that impact the lives of the citizens.
He said: “There is no development without funding. We have amongst others, embarked on major transformational infrastructure projects cutting across transport, health, education, agriculture, technology amongst others.
“These major infrastructural interventions are designed to improve the quality of life of our citizens and re-engineer economic growth and development trajectory with improved productivity of our citizenry, which invariably improves our tax generating abilities.
“In a bid to save the human face of taxation, communication and feedback from the taxpayer is of paramount importance.”
Also, the Executive Secretary, African Tax Administration Forum, Logan Wort, noted that a critical component of rethinking Domestic Revenue Mobilization is to ensure that the government has an impact on the lives of citizens.
“While we consider strategies or frameworks within which to enhance Domestic Resource Mobilization on the continent, we must always put into perspective its primary objective—being the impact on people’s lives as reflected by ATAF’s mandate in the new decade.
“This is to serve the higher purpose of enabling and assisting African governments to mobilize their own domestic resources through taxation to build states that foster economic growth and social development in the interest and wellbeing of all their citizens.
“This mandate, especially the latter part, is one we all share in various capacities across our jurisdictions, and one that must drive our Domestic Resource Mobilization objectives,” Wort said.
The 7th ATAF General Assembly, being hosted by the FIRS, had in attendance tax administrators from 41 tax authorities in Africa. It is the first physical gathering of the Forum since the COVID-19 pandemic.
