IMPACT OF MULTIPLE TAXATION ON BUSINESS SURVIVAL AMONG SMALL AND MEDUIM SCALE ENTERPRISES (SMEs) IN IKORODU, LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

The title of this research work is ‘The Effect of Multiple Taxation on Business Survival Among Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Ikorodu, Lagos State, Nigeria’. Taxation is one of the major fiscal policies used by the government of any nation such as Nigeria to achieve economic stability and financing of capital expenditure. The design used in this research is descriptive research design and data were collected through questionnaires which were administered physically with a sample size of One Hundred and Twenty (120) members of Five (5) random different SMEs operating within Lagos Mainland of Ikorodu. Data collected were presented in tabular form, critically analyzed using simple linear regression. The study’s findings revealed prevalent problem of multiple taxations being imposed on SMEs in Ikorodu Axis of Lagos State. SMEs pay tenement rate and business permit fee to both state and local governments. while the recommendations are in Nigeria, a unified tax policy across the board is recommended to support SMEs, with the government taking into account the size of SMEs when developing tax regulations on them. Corruption among tax agents and harassment of entrepreneurs by tax agents should be addressed. It is also recommended that numerous local taxes should be consolidated for ease of compliance and administration while occurrence of multiple taxation on businesses should be totally discouraged and appropriately gazetted. Further research may be directed at ‘Studies that should be carried out to examine why to determine the appropriate tax policy that is best suited for SMEs in Nigeria’ and also ‘There is need for further studies to determine the root cause of multiple taxation and the best way to address it’.