1. The Federal Government of Nigeria has granted a total of N25.81 billion in waivers and exemptions to several organisations between January and May this year. The beneficiary organisations include agencies, non-profit institutions and private businesses.
2. In all, a total of 64 different organisations were granted waivers with several of them claiming supply of machinery, equipment and spare parts, plants, equipment and core drilling rigs.
3. THISDAY findings revealed that grants, tax holidays granted to corporates by the federal government and failure by many Nigerians to pay their taxes is costing the government about N1 trillion in valuable tax revenue annually.
4. Numbers released by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) recently showed that gross collections totalled just 12.1 per cent of GDP in 2013 (8.5 per cent for oil and 3.6 per cent for non-oil). In Brazil the ratio is 32 per cent, and for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries the average is closer to 35 per cent.
5. Experts believe Nigeria’s poor record of tax collection for the non-oil economy reflects the award of generous tax exemptions, inadequate salaries and overlapping responsibilities.
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