The bid to teach young people about taxation and educate them on the benefits received a boost recently with the launch of Tax Trybe, a tax club initiative of Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS), for public secondary schools in the state.
An organisation, DKK in partnership with Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), has taken the campaign to schools, enlightening the children on why tax payment is important and necessary.
The objective of Tax Trybe is to instill in young students the knowledge of taxation, and make them future tax ambassadors. Subject on taxation has been perceived to be daunting and boring, Tax Trybe aims at introducing new and fun ways of learning the topic to aid interest and assimilation.
At the flag-off of the initiative, held at Lagos City High School, Sabo, Yaba, the Director, Informal Sector and Special Duties, LIRS, Dr Folashade Coker, said the initiative is aimed at introducing tax and taxation to schools, with a view to enlightening and creating a knowledge base, so that young people would begin to know about tax, what it meant and how to go about it , so that they can educate their parents, friends and family on why they should pay tax and the benefits, so that tax compliance can increase over time.
“This is the launch and after now, all the public schools in the 65 districts will be covered, and over time, the knowledge base will continue to grow.”
Speaking on why the campaign was taken to schools, Coker noted that knowledge is best served at the cradle and the young and youths are the leaders of tomorrow, adding “when you feed them with the right information, they hold on to it, they remember it and they apply it.”
The LIRS chief said the decision to start from school was premised on the fact that the students would be able to enlighten their parents and families better, because education is key.
She disclosed that the tax trybe is one of the measures designed to engage and enlighten stakeholders, because “the more knowledge they have about tax and taxation, the better they would comply voluntarily.”
With effective tax payment, Coker assured of government’s readiness to provide needed infrastructure and make life meaningful for the citizenry.
“I know that for the government of Lagos State, every tax that we generate is being put to judicious use to ensure that infrastructure, security and other necessary facilities are in place, and of course, free education too has been made possible by tax payment and I know that the more revenue they have, the more they would put it back into the system to ensure that basic amenities, security, infrastructure and all its likes are made available to the people.”
On her message to parents and students on taxation and tax culture, Coker said:” The students should know that knowledge is wealth and information is power, and they should continue to mop up knowledge and become soaked enough so that they can go around to educate others.
“To the parents, I want to say that it’s a laudable thing for the Lagos State government to provide free education and for DDK to introduce tax trybe in schools, we’re hoping that the students will pass on the knowledge to their parents, so that they can support government with their taxes to ensure that no child in the state is left behind,” she added.
The students commended the team for the initiative and promised to take the news to their homes.
Olusanjo Daniel, a Senior Secondary School 3 student of Majidun Senior Grammar, Ikorodu, said he was enlightened on the benefits of taxation.
“Through this programme, I have learnt so much on why adults and the working class must pay tax. I learnt that tax as a major source of revenue, is not being charged equally on individuals.
With the launch of tax trybe and tax club, I would join the tax club and partake actively in its activities. I will sensitise my fellow students and citizens, starting from my parents, on the benefits of the tax system, making them know that they are not being exploited or cheated by the government. As patriotic citizens, they are mandated to pay taxes so that government will be able to provide the necessary facilities,” the student said.
