Tax Collection: FIRS Boss Cautions On ICT, Other Challenges
BY COBHAM NSA, ABUJA – Despite the attraction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based inventions, Executive Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Muhammad Nami, has warned against inherent dangers associated with deploying such innovative facilities wholesale for tax administration and collection in developing economies.
He therefore cautioned tax administrators, especially in the African continent, to be wary of the disruptive tendencies embedded in the Fourth Industrial Revolution as currently driven by powerful ICT-based inventions that include; Blockchain, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.
Admitting that these technological innovations have the beneficial tendency to aid revenue agencies in their assigned national task of improved income generation, Nami expressed concern that they also have great ability to undermine tax collection in any jurisdiction.
According to him, the warning is necessary because these technologies have also created new, fluid, hard-to-trace ways of doing business that makes it difficult for revenue agencies to appropriately tax their transactions
The FIRS boss rang the alarm bell on Tuesday in Abuja at the ongoing three-day capacity building seminar for tax administrators from across West Africa. The event is hosted by FIRS in collaboration with the West African Tax Administration Forum (WATAF) and the Inter-American Center for Tax Administrations (CIAT)
Mr Nami said; “In the world presently, the disruptive technological innovations such as Blockchain technology, Machine Learning and the whole gamut of Artificial Intelligence (AI) have dire consequences for developing economies in terms of revenue loss and high staff turnover.
“The effects are also in the areas of staff dissatisfaction and deliberate ‘Head hunting’ of the very best of our staff by private entities which continue to deplete our work force.”
He said as Managers of Human Resources in Tax Administrations, it was important for stakeholders “to recognize the dynamics of changes occurring in the world in terms of the way businesses are being done and reported.”
For him, such development would enable revenue agencies adjust accordingly towards delivering on their statutory mandates to the government and people of their respective nations.
Noting that the seminar “provides an opportunity for capacity building and peer learning amongst tax administrators”, the FIRS boss charged all participants to take advantage of the event in forging knowledge-based collaborations that will enhance the Service’s capacity to turn existing and emerging challenges into opportunities for staff development.
A statement by the FIRS’ Director of Communications and Liaison Department, Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad quoted the Executive Chairman as saying that; “The increasing recognition of the important role of tax administrations in sustainable domestic revenue mobilisation for our governments has expanded our scope of operations thereby making it necessary for us to re-jig our approach to human resources management.”
Nami therefore challenged tax administrators to be more committed and resolute in forming “a mind-set that is tuned towards harnessing previously untapped potentials that exist in our systems by optimal use of our human resources in accordance with the global best practices.”
Facilitators, instructors and participants at the Seminar are drawn from West African countries as well as from North and South America.
