ABSTRACT

The generation of tax revenue from the private sector, especially from self employed people has always posed a problem. Millions of Naira have been lost due to the lack of tax conscious citizens The study is therefore aimed at investigating into the problems which hinder the effective and efficient taxation of businesses. As tax returns from direct assessment of businesses has often fallen short of meeting with government budgeted revenue. In order to successfully carrying out this research work the sources of data used to gather relevant data are the primary and secondary sources of data. Questionnaires were constructed and administered to a sample of business owners judg mentally selected for the study. Also questionnaires was administered to key tax administrators who have the capacity to provide necessary information required for the study. The data in the questionnaire were analyzed using percentage frequency distribution and was also used to throw more light to the research questions put across. Hypotheses were also formulated and were analyzed using chisquare. Based on data analyzed and research the researcher found that the problems of assessment and collection of tax from business enterprises can be traced to the fact that the machinery for taxing private businesses is weak as a result of the failure of the tax machinery to effectively administer tax. This is as a result of the failure of government in providing adequate infrastructure and manpower required for the tax officials to effectively carryout their mandate. Secondly, tax compliance is low because tax payers are not properly educated on tax issues and this causes the prevalence of tax evasion and avoidance. I therefore recommend that programmes should be initiated by government to educate tax payers and adequate infrastructure and manpower should be provided by government.