Non-Oil revenue buoyancy and elasticity: implications for revenue generation in Nigeria

Abstract

The paper employs annual time series data on real government tax revenue components from 1981-2014 to endogenously determine the level of non-oil revenue buoyancy and elasticity and its implication for revenue generation in Nigeria. A partitioning approach to determining tax buoyancy and elasticity is employed to address these objectives. The study found that with the exception of the Company Income Tax, an inelastic tax structure exists in Nigeria for the period under review. The proxy bases had similar results in terms of their responsiveness to the tax system. There were also evidences that the discretionary measures taken during the study period were not effective as shown in the low discrepancies between the buoyancy and elasticity measures. Among others, we recommend that government should as a matter of urgency strengthen tax administration and curtail leakages associated with tax avoidance and evasion. In addition, there is need for stronger collaboration among the relevant fiscal authorities and to streamline the tax structure and rates, reduce tax waivers and bureaucratic bottlenecks in the tax administration.