By Thompson ABISOLA
Dr Josephine Agbonika, a law lecturer says many property owners in Nigeria are unable to pay taxes on them because they over-inflate the prices of the properties.
She said in Abuja, on the sideline of the public presentation of volume two of the book titled: “Topical Issues on Nigerian Tax Laws and Related Areas.’’
The 28-chapter book was authored by 27 writers and edited by Prof. John Agbonika, Dr Muhammed Olokooba and Dr Josephine Agbonika.
Agbonika who has lectured at various universities in Nigeria also said that the inability to make returns on the properties also hinders owners from paying taxes on them.
“A lot of the properties in Nigeria are inflated in terms of pricing so that sometimes when you go back to those people for the actual price to cost it for taxation, they shy away from it.
“This is because some of them leave those properties fallow for years without being able to get the kind of profit that will require that kind of payment.’’
She, however, said that more awareness on taxation was required to help people understand what taxation was all about.
She said that there was the need to alwo educate the lawmakers on taxation to understand when and how to review the constitution as it relates to tax.
According to her, taxation is for everyone and not only for those engaged in businesses alone, but also for those who are earning salaries.
Agbonika said taxation was one of the principal ways nations derive resources, adding that because Nigeria was blessed to have oil as a main source of income it had reduced its interest in taxation.
She, however, said it was not just about generating revenue but mostly about the fiscal area of taxation and how to merge the collection with usage so as to make everyone, both collector and payer happy.
The 531–page book was reviewed by Prof. Dominic Asada.
