AN APPRAISAL OF THE EFFECT OF EDUCATION TRUST FUND ON ACCOUNTING EDUCATION IN NIGERIA TERTIARY INSTITUTION

AN APPRAISAL OF THE EFFECT OF EDUCATION TRUST FUND ON ACCOUNTING EDUCATION IN NIGERIA TERTIARY INSTITUTION

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Generally, Tax is a compulsory levy imposed upon taxable persons by the government of any nation. It is one of the major sources of government revenue used in executing the socio-economic activities of the country. There are various forms of taxes collected from individuals and companies by Nigerian government. These tax forms are as established by the notable tax legislations in Nigeria today. These taxes are administered by the authorities of the three tiers of Nigerian government namely: The Federal, State and Local Governments. These various authorities are the Federal Board of Inland Revenue (FBIR), the State Board of Internal Revenue and the Local Government Tax Authority for the Federal, State and Local Government respectively.

Education Tax Fund (ETF) however, was established by Education Tax Act No. 7 of 1993 and amended by Act No. 40 of (22nd Dec.) 1998. The Act imposes tax at the rate of 2% on the assessable profits of all incorporated bodies. The tax applies to all companies registered in Nigeria. These assessable profits of a company shall be ascertained in the manner specified in the companies Income Tax Act or the Petroleum Profits Tax Act as the case may be.

What necessitated the promulgation of this Education Tax Act was the widely recognized decline in Educational standards and the deep rot in infrastructure and other facilities at all levels of the Nigerian educational system.

From the primary to secondary and tertiary levels, it was obvious that there was urgent need for emergency funding to improve educational facilities and infrastructure, restore high morale of teachers, attract and retain qualitative entrants into the profession, encourage professionalism in teaching and improve teacher education curriculum. There was also the need to create an enabling environment for conducive teaching and learning and thus ensure the creation of a disciplined, committed, highly motivated, respected and professional teacher.