ABSTRACT

Abstracts

In recent times government have been finding it difficult to fulfill her social responsibilities and ensure the growth and development of the society. One of the major factors that are responsible for this is the level of tax compliance behaviour of the non-formal sector of the economy and the rural dwellers. This paper examined the perception of the rural dwellers in Ogun state towards compulsory payments of personal income tax. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The subjects for the study comprise of three rural communities within the three senatorial districts of Ogun state. Stratified random sampling procedure was used in selecting three rural areas within the geographical location of Ogun state and two hundred and sixty-five (265) adults for the study. Three research questions were raised to guide the study and one instruments tagged “Rural Dwellers Perception on Tax Payment Questionnaire” (RDPTPQ)(r=.73) was used to elicit information from the respondents. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics of simple percentage, mean and standard deviation. The results showed that most of the rural dwellers do not see reasons for paying taxes and factors such as misappropriation of taxes by government officials and taxes paid not used for the interest of the rural dwellers discouraged them from paying taxes. Government should provide necessary infrastructures in the rural areas so as to build trust in them and encourage them to see themselves as part of the entity called Nigeria; entrench policy of free education and highly subsidies health care services in the rural areas and give assistance to the farmers and the traders to boost their business and aids farmers towards agriculture mechanization.

Keywords: Rural Dwellers; Tax; Personal Income Tax.