A coalition of civil society organisations has decried the loss of over N16.4 trillion tax revenue by the federal government in the last three years.
The CSOs, including the Centre for Social Justice, Action Aid and Christian Aid, said the losses were recorded between 2020 and 2022, despite the country’s huge fiscal deficit.
They made this known at a media briefing on their recommendations on the 2023-2025 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP).
According to a breakdown they presented, in 2020, the total forgone tax revenue was N5.6 billion while it was about N5.5 billion in 2021 and in 2022, another N5.3 billion had been forfeited.
The CSOs expressed concern that the proposal in the 2023 budget to give away N5.2 trillion, against projected revenue of N8.45 trillion while incurring an N11.3 trillion deficit could not be reconciled under the fiscal responsibility laws.
They, therefore, expressed the need to amend the Finance Act 2022 to remove the power to grant tax expenditures from the minister.
They added that tax expenditures should not be more than 10 percent of projected revenue within the medium term.
The Lead Director, Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Eze Onyepere, while reading out the recommendations, said the federal government could reduce its N11 trillion budget deficit and still save N3 trillion by cutting extant fuel subsidies by 50 per cent.
He also urged the government to stop crude oil theft, which fritters away 400,000 barrels daily, leading to a $1.2 billion loss per month or $14.4 billion yearly.
The coalition further pointed out that reducing the tax expenditure proposal by 90 per cent will free up at least N4 trillion in revenue, adding that the mandatory use of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) by all government-owned enterprises would increase FG’s revenue by N1 trillion.
