Tax Justice tasks other Networks on Gender-responsive tax reforms in Kaduna
By Uangbaoje Alex, Kaduna
Tax Justice & Governance Platform (TJ&GP) have called on other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), networks in Kaduna to come together and advocate for a gender-responsive tax reforms in state.
Kaduna State Coordinator of the network, Simeon Olatunde, made the call during a two-day capacity building workshop for CSOs on advocacy for gender-responsive tax reforms, organized in collaboration with Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), which ended on Thursday, supported by Christian Aid.
According to Olatunde, who emphasised the need for tax policies that consider the unique challenges faced by women, collaborating with other networks will help address the gender gaps in tax administration in the State.
He stressed that gender-responsive tax reforms would promote fairness, equity, and economic empowerment for women.
The Coordinator therefore noted that the workshop will equip CSOs with the knowledge and skills necessary to advocate for inclusive tax policies.
He also said that the engagement was aimed to enhance participants’ ability to identify and analyse gender gaps in Kaduna State’s tax systems, including policies, laws, and administrative processes.
He added that it will was build advocacy skills among women’s groups and CSOs to collectively engage policymakers on gender-responsive tax reforms.
Olatunde, said the workshop was to promote strategic partnerships among stakeholders to advocate equitable and transformative tax policies.
He urged the Kaduna State Government to prioritise gender-responsive tax reforms, ensuring that tax policies address the specific needs and challenges of women.
“By promoting inclusive tax policies, we seek to contribute to a more equitable society, where women have equal opportunities to participate in the economy and benefit from tax policies,”Olatunde said.
In a keynote speech, Dr. Saied Tafida, recommended adopting progressive, redistributive and gender equal taxation including new forms of direct taxation of capital and wealth combined with less reliance on consumption taxes.
Saied, is the Regional Specialist, Tax for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Africa Sustainable Finance Hub.
In his presentation titled “The role of gender-responsive tax reforms in inclusive development”, Tafida also said removing implicit and explicit gender bias and discrimination in tax policies would ensure that tax revenues are raised and spent in ways that promote gender equality.
He also recommended collection, availability and use of gender disaggregated data to model tax policy and good practice while ensuring a fair taxation of the Small Medium Enterprise (SME) and informal sector.
On her part, Barrister Rebecca Sako-John, a Permanent Commissioner Kaduna State Peach Commission, said tax laws, policies and administrative systems in the state seem to follow the line of others in being gender blind or neutral which may have positive or negative implications for implementation.
According to her, less than one-fifth of Nigeria’s tax policies have undergone gender impact assessments .
Sako-John lamented that lots of practices and norms make unpaid work of women to be invisible in the tax system, thereby marking their economic contributions not valued.
“It is reported that absence of targeted tax incentives for women-owned businesses limits their growth potential and economic contributions. Tax reforms have to a large extent focuses on raising revenue for government to actualise its service delivery objectives,”she said.
Speaking on Kaduna State Tax (Codification and Consolidation ) Law 2020, Sako-John said the law failed to recognise the realities of women and persons with disabilities in terms of poor record keeping or documentation, factors driving business outcomes, access to information, financial inclusion and skills in ICT for inclusion in the tax nets.
She however commended the Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service for ensuring women representation on the Executive Management Committee, as well as in the State Development Levy regulation committee.
She said achieving gender equality in tax administration in Kaduna State has numerous benefits including fairness, increased tax compliance, improved revenue collection, empowerment of women, inclusive policy-making, and socio-economic development.
CSOs and other organisations present at the workshop include the Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities (JONAPWD) and the KADIRS, KADMAM.
Others were the Kaduna Basic Education Accountability Mechanism (KADBEAM), the media, Kaduna Social Protection Accountability Coalition (KADSPAC), among others.
