Bill Gates said Nigeria has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratio in the world. The co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation said the government has to win the confidence of the people. Gates said this will allow the people pay more tax knowing it is for development The co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, has asked the Nigerian government to win the confidence of the citizens in order to get them to pay more tax. The Cable reports that Gates said without the credibility of the government, Nigerians will not pay tax. He said Nigeria tax-to-GDP ratio was small and should be raised but this must be done with the confidence of the people on the government. According to him, if this is not done, the government can get into trap where citizens don’t feel like paying and won’t be supportive. He said: “One challenge that Nigeria has is that the amount of money that the government raises domestically is quite small compared to other countries. “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.” Gates said Nigeria remains a priority for the foundation and made reference to the work done on polio eradication. He said: “Nigeria is a super-important country and one that the foundation has an office there. We did a lot of work in Nigeria on polio and we learned a lot doing that. Nigeria has gone almost three years now without having a polio case. “The biggest priority we have, although making absolutely sure we’re done with polio remains a big priority, now we’re able to focus even more on the primary health care system.” Meanwhile, the PDP advised the federal government to reverse its decision to increase the Value Added Tax (VAT) from 5% to 7.2%. The party in a statement issued by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Thursday, September 12, in Abuja said that the PDP rejected the decision. Ologbondiyan said that Nigerians could not bear such burden under the prevailing economic situation. Rekindle public confidence in judiciary, Gov Okowa urges judicial officers “The PDP insists that the decision to increase VAT on already impoverished citizens is in bad faith and cannot be justified under any guise.”
Source: Legit