PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday, inaugurated launched a new national tax policy and nationwide Tax Identification Number (TIN), confident that the new policy would lay the foundation for the complete transformation of tax system in the country.
The president, who took a break from his ongoing one-week leave to perform the inauguration in the State House, Abuja, said the launching marked the culmination of a journey which began almost a decade ago.
He recalled that the idea of a national tax policy first arose from the report of a Presidential Study Group and a Private Sector Working Group set up in 2002, which examined the Nigerian tax system and made recommendations towards entrenching a better tax policy and improved tax administration in the country.
According to him, the policy was a product of widespread consultation and deliberation at all tiers of government and all sectors of the economy, “one which, we believe, will lay the foundation for the complete transformation of the Nigerian tax system.
Jonathan said the TIN system, introduced by the Joint Tax Board, was a collaborative project between the federal and state governments, adding that “it is a key deliverable under the National Tax Policy.”
