By Tony Obiechina, Abuja

The Chairman, Joint Tax Board (JTB), Dr Zacch Adedeji, has urged officials of the board to organise traders and artisans into a formal body before capturing them in the tax net.This he said was in line with the agenda of President Bola Tinubu not to tax poverty but prosperity.

The chairman stated this at the 157th Joint Tax Board meeting held in Ibadan on Monday. The theme of the meeting is “Taxation of the Informal Sector: Potentials and Challenges”. Speaking on the theme of the event, Adedeji stressed the need to evolve a system that would make the informal sector formal before it could be taxed.Adedeji, who also doubles as the Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, (FIRS), said “What I would not expect from the JTB meeting is to define a system that would tax the informal sector.“The only thing is to formalise the informal sector, not to design a system on how to collect tax from market men and women.“As revenue administrator, our goal is to organise the informal sector so that it can fit into existing tax law.”Citing a report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in the first quarter of 2023, the chairman said that the nation’s unemployment index was attributable to recognised informal work.Adedeji stated that workers in that sector accounted for 92.6 per cent of the employed population in the country as of Q1 2023.“JTB IS transitioning to the Joint Revenue Board with expanded scope and functions.“We are hopeful that by the time we hold the next meeting of the Board, the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill will have been signed into Law by the President.“The meetings of the board provide the platform for members to engage and brainstorm on contemporary and emerging issues on tax and taxation,” he said.In his address, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State said the theme of the meeting was apt and timely, stressing that it coincides with the agenda of the state to improve on its internally generated revenue.According to him, the meeting should find the best way forward in addressing the issue of the informal sector and balance the identified challenges.“Nigeria is rich in natural resources, but it is a poor country because economic prosperity is not based on natural resources.”Makinde also said that knowledge, skill and intensive production were required for economic prosperity, not just the availability of natural resources.He stressed the need to move from expecting Federal Allocations to generating income internally.“We are actively ensuring that people are productive and moving the revenue base forward,” Makinde said.The governor said that the tax drive should be done by simplifying tax processes, incentives for compliance, like access to empowerment schemes and loans.He urged JTB to deepen partnership and innovation in using data on tax to track and administer it.Earlier, the Executive Chairman, Oyo State Board of Internal Revenue, Mr Olufemi Awakan, said the meeting was to address tax-related matters, evolve a workable, effective and An Efficient tax system across the states and at the Federal level.He urged participants to find amicable solutions to challenges of tax jurisdiction, among others.Tax administrators from all the 36 states of the federation, who are members of JTB, were in attendance.