ABSTRACT

The development of every society depends on the amount of revenue generated by the government for the provision of infrastructural facilities. One major source of generating this revenue is taxation. Tax is a major source of government revenue all over the world, including Nigeria. Government use tax proceeds to render their traditional functions such as the provision of public goods, maintenance of law and order, defense against external and internal aggression, regulation of trade and business to ensure social and economic justice. The study critical investigate the impact of tax evasion and tax avoidance on revenue generation in Abia Sate, Nigeria. The study employed survey research design by which data were generated by means of questionnaire and ex-post facto. the result is based on the analysis of data obtained from two hundred and twenty seven (227) respondents that returned their questionnaire, out of one thousand (1,000) questionnaire that was administered to the respondents; public servant filled and returned fourth six (46), private organization filled and returned sixty (60), self-employed and others filled and returned one twenty one (121). The descriptive statistics and percentage analysis were used for the data analysis and the hypotheses were tested using simple regression model. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software version 20.0 was employed in the analysis of data and test of hypotheses. The results reveal that total tax loss has no significant impact on total tax revenue generation in Abia state. It also showed total tax loss has a significant impact on total tax revenue generation in Abia state. It hereby recommended that adequate care and due diligence should be maintained in the method involve in checking tax evasion and tax avoidance in Abia State, Nigeria, which could lead to loss of government revenue.