Economic experts have condemned the purported plan by the Federal Government to tax Nigerians, who own property in the United Kingdom, describing it as unrealistic.
Government’s proposed plan, according to observers, is part of the manifestation of a recent disclosure by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, that, a major crackdown on tax evaders is on the way.
Adeosun said it was a determined move to boost the revenue of the Federal Government.
But an economist, Prof. Ekpo Akpan, said the fact that Nigeria’s tax ratio to the Gross Domestic Product was very low, did not give room for property owners in the Diaspora to be taxed.
“You don’t tax people out there; it is not possible for people who have properties abroad to pay taxes to their home country as that is double taxation.”
He noted that there was a limit to every taxation procedure and that it was for this reason that people who paid tax expected quality service delivery.
A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Mr. Abiodun Esho, also explained that it was important to introduce a workable structure that would ensure that people, who were currently in the tax net, benefitted from such responsibility.
“We have less than 30 per cent of the total work population in the tax net; so it is not increasing the rate that matters, nor introducing new tax scheme. The issue is that we are able to bring in more people into the tax net and killing people with tax.”
He further noted that in other climes like South Africa, tax regulators did not levy their citizens for owning property abroad.
“Taxing people with houses abroad won’t work, because they already pay tax in the host nation. It is not a right step towards encouraging Foreign Direct Investment; rather, government should put in place, incentives that will boost FDI, rather than obnoxious tax policies that will scare investors,” he counselled.
