The Tax Burden
Nigerians continue to groan as the strangulating grip of the tax regime at all levels of government tightens. The reason for the tax regime by Those-in-Charge is obvious-more revenue-even as Those-in-Charge has decided to take additional loans to finance projects that fall under the category of misplaced priorities. However, during the Napoleonic wars, one of Those in Government in Britain, Pitt, resorted to an income tax to aid the defraying national expenditure. The burden of the war debt was humongous. £ 74,500,000 revenue was required annually to service the debt and other expenditures. This was four times the pre-war budget, which resulted in the multiplication of taxes. During this period, government officials made excusable mistakes or were rather frankly ignorant. Indeed, smuggling and other sharp practices became prominent. There were taxes on the import of manufactured goods and taxes on the export of raw materials. There were also various revenue taxes on consumption wh...