What follows below is a transcript version of an audio message I recorded on this subject [To get the MP3 recording, click here to request it].

I asked a question on Social Media recently on this same theme….

Why is it that governments generally (especially those in this part of the world i.e. Africa, Nigeria in particular)…why is it that they challenge businesses and individuals in business to pay taxes, despite the fact that they generally do not create an enabling conducive environment for those business owners to flourish – in a way that paying taxes does not come across to them (i.e the business persons) as a kind of necessary evil?

Now, I ask that question because I see too much of this entitlement mentality amongst people who are in government.

They come to you in your hotel, restaurant, bar, hair dressing salon, consulting firm, and they announce that you’re owing 2 years back taxes or that you’re to pay taxes for employees, and all of that.

And yet, the same people behave in ways – professionally – that do not enable businesses to flourish. They refuse to let the laws that are laid down operate the way they should.They connive with other people who are NOT in government to defraud the government, and therefore make the government systems inefficient.

So – for instance – when the contracts are awarded for the road to be repaired, they are not repaired.

[For illustration purposes, imagine I’m a manufacturer] The bad roads damage my vehicle when I transport my products to my factory. There are hold ups that prevent my trucks from arriving on time, so I lose production hours.

There’s no power supply, because some people who work in the state owned power company, are misbehaving, and therefore probably for instance, connive with some other people to make sure we don’t have electricity, so that some people who sell diesel and petrol make money.

The point I’m making is this:

If government want society to be better. If they really want to see progress and have proof that they are functioning efficiently, and delivering value to the people they lead, then they need to begin doing that in a different way from what they’ve been used to.

So for starters I believe that the emphasis on taxes as the primary source of income generation for the government needs to change.

It doesn’t make sense – because if you want to be able to depend on taxes, you’ve got to create an environment that enables people to pay taxes.

If people are struggling to survive, their ability to pay taxes will be a joke!

And that is why it then tends to be a case of arm twisting people, to get them to pay taxes.

It doesn’t make any sense. The people you’re supposed to serve, who are supposed to feel good you about you being in government, then begin to see you as a kind of a monster that wants to kill them – because what they feel they need to hold on to, to make their businesses survive, and even to take care of their loved ones, is what they have to give up to you in form of taxes.

Yes, we know that as government you want to develop the society and infrastructure.

The point is this:

If we cannot feed ourselves, how do we pay you the taxes to develop the infrastructure?

The infrastructure is meant for people who are in a good state of health, who are well-fed -to enjoy.

If I cannot feed well with my family, do you think I’ll have the time or resources to go to the beautiful park you’ve built? Or do you think I can afford to buy a car to run on the roads you claim you want to build?

So the first step is that the government needs to understand that people need them to behave, and create systems that WORK!

But let’s take it a step further – another point I want to make is this:

Governments need to look beyond taxes.

People would not have such great difficulty paying taxes, IF government made it easy for them to do it..

You keep talking about creating enabling environments, but you don’t do that. Yet you want people to keep paying taxes as if they earn money from some other planet.

It’s the same planet that we’re all on, that YOU refuse to manage properly, and make conducive for us to flourish in as business owners, that you demand we pay taxes in.

Like I said before, it makes no sense!

What are supposed to do: Go and mint our own money to pay you taxes??

That’s one point.

Another point: When we hear that people in government are stealing/diverting public funds, those are often monies obtained from tax paying citizens!

The annoying thing is that the people that are caught doing that never get put in jail, and so they return to steal more funds, while the rest of us continue paying taxes, because we’re not in government!

Why doesn’t government show us the way?

Why don’t you lead the way?

You want us to pay taxes? Why don’t you show us how to make money in the economy you created for us?

Why don’t you, for instance, run enterprises that do not benefit from “awoof” funding i.e. why don’t you begin to setup establishments that do not benefit from government subventions, handouts or bail outs?

Why don’t you establish profit making organizations or enterprises that provide value adding services and products in society, like normal businesses do?

Operate as if you’re a private enterprise. Get parastatals that you have, that will actually not be functioning by way of government subventions being dished out to them.

Instead, challenge the people you put in charge of those organizations, to provide value adding services/products the way those other private establishments do, and then generate profits on their own.

Why would you want to do that?

It’s simple. First of all, such organizations need not struggle to find startup capital. You – the government parent will supply that. Let’s assume we will allow that basic concession.

But they would need to go through the startup process, and then begin to function independently of you.

YOU would use THAT to test the waters in which you’re asking the rest of us to swim!

If you tell us that we should make profits and be able to pay you what is due to you as government, YOU put an enterprise on the ground that is able to do that.

Then when that enterprise achieves that outcome of being able to generate profits that it can pay back to you, it would become a measure against which the rest of us will be assessed.

For instance, if the company is into printing of branded gift items, who don’t you do it as a profit generating arm of your establishment.

Then at the end of the year, if the organization declares a profit doing that, then it becomes a model that the rest of us can emulate.

We would say:

“Oh, this is how a business enterprise should be run, because it has been running independently of its government-parent, and it makes money enough to generate profits to pay – in part – as taxes to the government.”

The rest of us would therefore have no issues. We would simply come there to LEARN from YOU (i.e. the government-parent), how to run a business in YOUR economy, and profit from it.

If YOU (as government) cannot get an enterprise of your own to flourish in the economy you create, but you demand that the rest of us generate profits, and pay you taxes from them, then I think you’re trying to eat your cake and have it – which is unrealistic!

THAT is my message to government!

Now, I’ve shared a lot of ideas on this theme in past write-ups I’ve done on my website – www.tayosolagbade.com – under the “My Ideas for Making Nigeria Better” category.

In particular, there’s a book I published, based on a 2006 White Paper, in which I advocate for societies to develop what I call DIGITAL MULTIPRENEURS.

This is the key to the future (I’m not asking you to buy my book. I can send you a complimentary PDF copy – just ask me using the contact form on my website).

In that book, I’ve explained that governments that want to empower citizenry to get to a point where you eliminate poverty, the best way to go is to use what is happening today.

We are in an information driven world. PC/Internet technology, and mobile phone technology are transforming societies and economies.

People keep talking about gloomy predictions for 2016, but we also know that there are some businesses that are just flourishing more than ever before, because they are leveraging everything they do, based on technology!

Now, what is the way we can take advantage of this technology based revolution?

Simple.

We need to develop a new base of manpower that uses creative thinking based on implementation of technology – and I’m NOT talking about building a spaceship.

I’m talking more about things like what Wole Soyinka did – and does (as a writer), Chinua Achebe, Niyi Osundare.

But this time taking advantage of technology to do it more time, effort and cost-effectively, reaching out to a potentially unlimited audience.

Writers are people that use their intellect, in conjunction with technology and the Internet, to generate income. And there are examples of people in different parts of the world who are doing that profitably as well as right here in Africa and Nigeria.

The young man in Ibadan, that I’ve always talked about – Bamidele Onibalusi – is an example. At a point he was earning over $5,000 USD as a 16 year old, writing articles for clients in different parts of the world!

What stops us from generating an army of people who can write African stories like Chinua Achebe, but then deploy them using the web?

That is just one example.

I sell custom Excel-VB software internationally. I have buyers from in and out of Africa connecting with me all the time through my website, and the web.

They ask for my products and pay for them using Western Union, bank transfers as well as Paypal (via a 3rd party).

What stops us from building an army of people that can create solutions that the whole world wants, and thus generate foreign exchange (forex)?

I earn forex. I earn income in Euros, Pounds and Dollars.

What stops the government from training graduates to do that?

Why can’t a department of the government actually
launch an enterprise that will be run by people who are job seekers that will be trained? Why can’t we have that?

Why should government be thinking of getting money all the time from citizens through taxes?

Why can’t government generate income using creative processes or methods?

As a matter of fact you have the edge over the rest of us, because by being in government, and you announce a government based enterprise that’s trying to run a profit making entity, you would get credibility, both locally and internationally.

For instance, international organizations – and even local ones – might want to partner with you.

But I think the reason why this option is avoided by most people in government is because they like the easy way of getting money.

So my challenge to people in government is there is no need to give us gloomy predictions. The truth is that it depends on how you choose to approach the situation before you.

Whatever is looking gloomy in any economy anywhere in the world, is a function of the creative application of intelligence to it.

In Africa right now, we have an edge in terms of the fact that we have a huge base of manpower. And the way we make of technology to exploit the manpower and other resources we have, will be the key to our ability to grow and flourish.

There’s a lot of stuff we’re selling locally in Africa, that people in other parts of the world, can be made aware of using PC and Internet technology, in terms of marketing. And then ensuring that we demonstrate integrity in delivering what is ordered from us.

The Chinese do it and the Indians too. What stops us from doing it?

So, it’s about bringing about change, and the government can LEAD that change, if they are willing to stop looking for entitlement earnings from us, and begin to imagine that they can LEAD this change!

This is my message to the government, and I hope it gets to those who are responsible, and they will take decisions that will deliver better returns to us, in terms of the investment we make in our governments.