The President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has said that Nigerians undervalue themselves in order to avoid paying the right tax.
Jonathan said that it is unfortunate that many Nigerians of means will go to the extent of not wanting to pay tax and where they do, undervalue themselves.
The President, who spoke at the launch of a new tax policy for Nigeria as well as a new Tax Identification Number format in Abuja on Thursday, said: “Overall, what we seek to achieve with the introduction of the national tax policy is to have a nation and a people who see taxation as a partnership with government,
“Of course in this country, most of the social critics who come on television and radio stations and talk in the newspapers don’t pay tax.
“If at all because they want to buy land or one thing or the other and the governors insist they must pay tax, they undervalue themselves.
“Somebody will be travelling abroad almost every month, travel first class but the tax he will pay is not up to the tax a Grade Level 4 officer pays in government.
“In other countries, those are criminal offences, but here, such people are celebrated as heroes.
“We want to create an economy that is self-sufficient and does not depend wholly on resource wealth to bring development to the people,
“TIN is a revolutionary poll of tax administration and holds immense potential not just for expanding the nationwide tax base with consequence increase in revenue collection accruable to all tiers of government but it is also a big step in the modernisation of the Nigerian tax system in line with global best practices and expectations.”