UYO -The Debt Management Office has sought the introduction of special tax on luxury items by the Federal Government to enable the country generate enough revenue.
Dr Abraham Nwakwo, Director-General, DMO, said that revenue from luxury taxes would be used to provide goods and services for the generality of the people and cater for the unemployed.
Nwankwo said this in Uyo on Saturday during a retreat for members of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, organised by his office.
Speaking on the topic, “Implications of Rebasing of Gross Domestic Product for Public Debt Management,” the DG criticised the state of the nation’s dwindling revenue.
He said that even though after rebasing, Nigeria’s GDP had become higher; the country’s borrowing space was small.
Nwankwo said rebasing results showed that the country needed to do more in terms of revenue collection in order that as the GDP was growing, government revenue would also be growing.
According to him, this will lead to having enough resources to solve the country’s problems.
The director general said that for the country to overcome the shortfall in its revenue, government had to realise more revenue from taxes; fees, penalties and royalties.
“Special taxes should be introduced on luxury items so that there will be more revenue to provide goods and services for the generality of the people.
“And to cater for those who are not gainfully employed in terms of making sure that every child in Nigeria attends schools.
“This means that, both individuals and companies need to make sure that they pay their taxes on time and in full. Measures need to be taken against those who are not paying taxes.
“If every child in Nigeria has to attend school, it means that governments, at the federal, state, and local levels,will provide the resources to cater for such people.
“So that no Nigerian child is left out of school and no Nigerian citizen is not in a position to develop themselves to higher level in terms of education and skills.
“The bottom line is that our debts are sustainable if we use the statistics of the rebased GDP, we will be under illusion that we have more borrowing space.
“But the emphasis is that we do not have more borrowing space because GDP has increased.
“We do not service debts with GDP, but with revenue and revenue is suffering some setbacks in terms of its size ability to the GDP,” he said.
Nwankwo said that regular interactive sessions and retreats with senators on the country’s economy would update their knowledge on the development with regards to the economy and public debts management.
He said the knowledge would enable them do their jobs effectively in terms of oversight functions on public debts management.(NAN)
