Anti-social tax practices and social economic development in Nigeria: the stakeholders' perceptions

Abstract

The tax system is at the heart of an effective state. Although tax revenues are crucial to enable the state to redistribute wealth and to provide public goods, such aspirations are increasingly checked by tax evasion and tax avoidance practices and fiscal corruption. The paper examines the role of these practices on social economic development in Nigeria. It locates the role of taxpayers within the political economy theory to argue that the anti-social tax practices are shaped by socio-political and economic structures in the society. Using results from 24 interviews, the paper argues that social structures have influenced and [re]shape the attitudes and behaviour of actors towards committing anti-social tax practices. This has adversely affected government revenue thereby undermining investment in public goods, which has eroded the quality of life of Nigerian citizens and led to a decline in life expectancy. The paper advocates a radical reform of the tax system to curb these attendant problems.