A major crackdown on tax evaders is on the way, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said yesterday.They will be named and shamed –
in a desperate move to improve the tax to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio and expose evaders.
The minister, who spoke at the end of the 2017 IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, said Nigeria has the worst tax to GDP of six per cent in the world, as only 13 million people pay their taxes.
She spoke of collaboration with the British Government to ensure that Nigerians who own properties in the UK pay taxes in Nigeria. She said that many of the people who fly business class, and own houses in the UK will have to be watch listed. “If you buy business class ticket, we will probably be looking at, is this person a tax payer anywhere?”
“At every data point of government, we will be picking up information that will be used to compare people to pay taxes. There is going to be much better collaboration from the international community,” she said.
