The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, on Wednesday hinted that the Committee had proposed the use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and other digital channels for the payment of taxes and levies across the three tiers of government in the country.
Oyedele, who disclosed this on while updating the public on the Committee’s activities, said that part of the proposals to the government was the cancellation of many of the current taxes that had become burdensome to the people, harmonize the few that are justifiable, and digitize the collection process with multiple channels including USSD to drive efficiency, reduce leakages and promote accountability.
The USSD is a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol that is used to send text messages. Currently, the USSD is being used by banks for financial services and allows users to interact directly from their mobile phones by making selections from various menus.
While noting that there are currently over 60 taxes, levies, and charges being administered at the three tiers government, Oyedele pointed out that states and local governments were administering 46 of the taxes, including road taxes, motor park levies, truck, canoe, wheelbarrow and cart fees, etc.
According to him, there are \more illegal taxes all disproportionately affecting small businesses, including petty traders, hawkers, artisans, truckers, cart pushers, okada riders and other transporters.
The tax expert further clarified: “The associated costs are inevitably passed on to consumers, mostly low-income earners. The payers also have to contend with the unorthodox means of collection and harassment from untrained “revenue collectors” on highways, markets, streets, etc while there is very little to show for the revenues collected.
“We propose to repeal many of these burdensome taxes, harmonize the few that are justifiable, and digitize the collection process with multiple channels including USSD to drive efficiency, reduce leakages, and promote accountability”, Oyedele added
Noting that the current fiscal reforms being proposed also have a social dimension, he said the Committee had two choice choices namely, either recommending that new personnel be recruited and trained to drive compliance or train the existing collectors to be civil in their approach.
Oyedele pointed out that while the “former may lead to potential backlash, the latter offers a more sustainable solution, avoiding social crises and providing relief to small businesses. Our reforms stand a better chance of success when we find a win-win outcome for all stakeholders than those which seek to alienate others.”
He expressed the readiness of the Committee to welcome criticisms and engage taxpayers in order to ensure that all stakeholders’ interests are considered in all its reform initiatives.
