Tax Education Mechanisms And Internal Revenue Generation: Evidence From Imo State, Nigeria
Assoc Prof Israel Omesi Ph.D
Department of Accounting, Faculty of Business Studies, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rumuolumeni, Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.
Ogbolu Lucky Mmamefune
Department of Accounting, College of Management and Social Sciences, Novena University, Ogume, Delta State, Nigeria.
Keywords: Internal Revenue Generation, Personal Income Tax, Tax Education
Abstract
The objective of the study is to evaluate the effect of tax education/enlightenment mechanism on personal income tax revenue generation in Imo tate, Nigeria. In a bid to achieve this objective, data were collected through primary and secondary sources and the primary data were analysed using simple percentages, Regression Analysis, spearman Rank-Order Correlation for Test-Retest measures of reliability and Pearson Correlation using SPSS Version 20. Hence, the null hypothesis which states that: Tax education/enlightenment programme as an administration mechanism does not significantly influence personal income tax revenue generation of Imo State, Nigeria. The hypothesis was analyzed using Pearson Correlation which revealed r value of .834 (83.40%) indicating a large significant positive effect of tax education and enlightenment campaign strategy on personal income tax revenue generation in Imo State, Nigeria. The paper therefore recommends that tax education/enlightenment campaign should be given more vigorous attention by the tax authorities via diverse media – online, print media, telephone, social media, ensuring that tax consultants/professionals provide sufficient personal income tax information/education to taxpayers including taxation in the curriculum across various discipline and various levels of educational institutions extending awareness campaign to religious bodies, community groups and NGOs to bring them to PIT net and improve on revenue generation. The government should channel more resources to tax education and enlightenment campaigns and enact more stringent tax laws to block loopholes to tax evasion in order to increase personal income tax revenue generation.