Abia says tax reform is about efficiency, not burden

The Abia State Government has said its current tax reforms are designed to improve transparency and efficiency, not increase the burden on residents.

The Abia State Government has said its current tax reforms are designed to improve transparency, accountability and efficiency in revenue collection, rather than increase the tax burden on residents. The Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, said this while briefing reporters at the Government House, Umuahia, on the outcome of Monday’s State Executive Council meeting.

Mr Kanu said the reforms were part of the present administration’s broader transformation of government institutions, processes and structures to deliver better services to the people. He said the reforms focused on making tax administration more transparent, traceable, auditable, automated and taxpayer-friendly. “In the past, we had processes that were independently operated, leaving room for manual intervention, middleman cash handling, arbitrary practices of sorts, and poor accountability,” he said.

“The new system under operation seeks to close this gap, and under the new system, the State Board of Internal Revenue is automating and integrating the processes. This will enable taxpayers to know exactly what they are being assessed to pay, why they are being assessed, and how much they are required to pay through government-approved channels. Automation, therefore, is not a tax increment. Transparency is not a tax increment. Closing revenue leakages is not a tax increment,” he said.

Mr Kanu also said that the reforms had naturally attracted resistance from some sections of society, pointing out that people, particularly those benefiting from the old system, often resisted change. He, however, said that the state government would continue to administer taxes, in line with the present administration’s definition of taxation as the government’s share of the prosperity it created for the citizenry.

The commissioner also said the governor approved the disbursement of ₦1 million each to 31 verified Abia returnees from South Africa as interim support to help them resettle. He said the assistance was part of the governor’s compassionate approach to governance and commitment to the welfare of Abia people.

For a small business owner in Aba, the promise of automation is welcome, but the fear of higher taxes is real. The government’s assurance that the reforms are about efficiency, not burden, will need to be tested. Resistance from those benefiting from the old system suggests the reforms are already having an impact.

This echoes the 2020 tax reforms in Lagos State, which also sought to automate revenue collection and improve transparency. The mechanism then was different, but the result was the same: a push for efficiency in tax administration.

The winners: Abia taxpayers, who will benefit from a more transparent system; and the Abia State Government, which will collect more revenue efficiently. The losers: those who benefited from the old system of manual intervention and cash handling; and the Nigerian public, who must trust the government’s assurances.

Bottom Line: Abia’s tax reform is about efficiency, not higher taxes, the government says. The question is whether the automation will deliver on its promise or just create new problems.