Lost Revenue Due to Trade Liberalization: Can Nigeria recover her own?

Abstract

The aim of the study is to find out the possibility of recovering the tariff revenue that will be lost in the process of liberalization through restructuring of the domestic tax system in Nigeria by examining the buoyancy and elasticity of the tax system. Using the dummy method, commonly known as the Singer approach, the Nigerian tax system as a whole was found to be relatively buoyant but not elastic. The buoyancy however showed a decline close to 16% after the 1991 trade reform. Import duty despite the decline in its share in total tax from 47.3% before the reform to 28% over the reform period showed a positive increase in buoyancy. CIT collection measured by tax-to-base elasticity declined by 46% over the reform period, suggesting that there is an urgent need to improve on tax administration. Also, the result confirm the ineffectiveness of the various reforms and (DTMs) in enhancing the productivity of the tax system, showing that much need to be done in our domestic tax system, both in structure and administration before thinking of engaging in any bi- or multilateral trade agreement.

Key words: Nigeria, Trade liberalisation, Lost revenue and Domestic tax system