Company Income Tax and Unemployment in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper focused on the impact of company income tax on unemployment in Nigeria from 1980 to 2019. The data for this study were sourced from the statistical bulletin of Nigeria’s apex bank. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) unit root test and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) methods were used as the main analytical tools. The ADF unit test result revealed stationarity of the variables at order zero which satisfied the requirement to employ the OLS method. The OLS regression result revealed that corporate income tax has positive and significant relationship with unemployment rate in Nigeria. Prime lending rate has negative and significant relationship with unemployment rate in Nigeria. Inflation rate has negative and insignificant relationship with unemployment rate in Nigeria. The study therefore concluded that tax revenue from company income has not been efficiently and effectively used to provide infrastructural facilities and social amenities that will help the different sectors of the economy to function very well thereby reducing unemployment in the country. Based on the results, the study suggested that government should ensure that revenue from corporate income tax and other sources are efficiently and effectively used to provide infrastructural facilities and social services that will help the different sectors of the economy to function very well, in so doing unemployment will be reduced. The management, administration and implementation of corporate income tax should be done in such a way that it will not hinder investment and employment in the economy. At the same time, ensure accountability and transparency from government officials on the management of revenue derived from company income tax.