Rejuvenating Taxpayers Disposition: An Antidote to Revenue Generation Quandary in Lagos-Nigeria

Abstract

In developing countries, taxes by government on individuals, properties and companies, form a major portion of money meant for public purposes. However, many persons research has shown blatantly refuse to pay tax by reporting losses each year, yet have lifestyles inconsistent with reported income. Despite several check mechanisms that have been put in place including the use of tax consultancy services and automated systems, studies revealed that the problem still persist. The issue of non-complainant was associated to behavior and attitude of the taxpayers. This paper re-examined the cause for such behavior and evaluated ways of rejuvenating the tax payer’s disposition with a view to improving tax revenue generation. The disposition of tax payers in Lagos State toward payment of taxes, were sourced. A total of 173 entrepreneurs were sampled. The data gathered were analyzed using means, Kendall’s measure of Concordance, Pearson product moment correlation and multiple regression analysis. The result from the analysis revealed that attitudinal problem was a major cause and could be rejuvenated. Based on the model designed for this study, several ways were suggested to improve the attitudinal problem of taxpayers’ such as, revivify thoughts, spirituality, reward schemes and individual interaction schemes.