CITN urges states to establish revenue portals to enhance fiscal prudence

The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) has called on the government at all levels to establish revenue portals to simplify their revenue administration processes.

The institute said this was pertinent as the scheme would not only promote revenue reporting and accounting but fiscal prudence as well as enhance the delivery of democratic dividends to the populace.

President/Chairman of Council, CITN, Samuel Agbeluyi, said this following the recent launch of the Lagos State Revenue Portal (LRP), urging other sub-nationals to take a cue from the initiative by the Lagos State government and other states that have embarked on similar schemes.

He said the initiative is critical to engendering confidence in the fiscal management and governance practices of the state government, particularly revenues generated internally.

According to him, the LRP aggregates all the bills under one platform for ease of payments and administration, thereby enhancing the process for the taxpayer and the government.

The CITN boss said the launch of the portal, leveraging on technology, has the potential of improving tax and other regulatory payments compliance levels, as simplifying the process would result in improved revenue collections for the State.

He mentioned that the situation prevalent in most states was that multiple agencies approach taxpayers and business owners with multiple bills, which creates a burden of compliance and increases the cost of doing business, thereby leading to revenue loss and low collections.