The Political Economy of Nigeria's Digital Tax Experiment

Download or read book The Political Economy of Nigeria's Digital Tax Experiment written by Okanga Okanga and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a global rush to tax the digital economy. As at June 2020, more than a hundred countries have formulated or adopted unilateral measures towards that objective. Most of these domestic measures are in the incubator, as countries concurrently explore multilateral options to find a consensual solution to the complex digital tax challenge. Nigeria is a part of the multilateral efforts, as a member of the OECD's Inclusive Framework on BEPS. However, like so many other countries, faced with a protracted multilateral endeavour, Nigeria has also towed the unilateral path. Between 2019 and 2020, Nigeria has modified its corporate tax legislation to enable the taxation of nonresident digital businesses. However, considering that the US, a strategic Nigerian ally, is vehemently opposed to the kind of unilateral measure that Nigeria has adopted, it is important for Nigeria to approach with caution in trying to implement the new digital tax regime. This synoptic paper examines the implications of Nigeria's new digital tax regime in the context of Nigeria-US relations. On a broader scale, the paper underscores some of the challenges facing policy development in developing countries when the interests of global superpowers are at stake.