THE IMPACT OF TAX REFORMS ON GOVERNMENT REVENUE GENERATION IN NIGERIA

The study examines the impact of Tax Reform Policy on Revenue generation of the Federal Government of Nigeria. The primary objective of this paper is to prepare a case study on tax policy reforms in Nigeria, with the specific objectives of examining the main tax reforms in the country, highlighting tax revenue profile and contributions of the three categories of taxes identified as personal, company and custom duties to the total revenue collection. The techniques of data analysis adopted for the empirical study were the Analysis of Variance Method and the Scheffe’s Multiple Comparison techniques. In addition, the ‘F’ test of the analysis of the variance was used to test the hypothesis of no significant difference in the impact on personal, company and custom duty tax revenues of the Federal Government by each of the following tax reform policy objectives; enhancement of the principles of good tax system, improvement in the tax administrative structure, removal of disincentives to tax compliance and promotion of investment opportunities. From the results, it was concluded that each of the tax reform policy objectives had significant impacts on the personal, company and custom duty tax revenues of the federal government of Nigeria. Scheffe’s comparison test confirmed that tax revenues from both company and custom duty exceeded personal income tax. It was recommended that for improved tax revenue generation from pursuit of tax reform policy objectives, the training and employment of qualified tax personnel who will be adequately equipped with appropriate materials is necessary. Furthermore, the adoption of strategies for an effective and efficient tax reform alongside with harmonization of government industrial and stabilization polices with those of tax reforms.