A Comparative Analysis of Judicial Attitude to the Interpretation of Taxation Statutes in Nigeria, United Kingdom and United States.
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Date
2021
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Department of Private Law, University of Maiduguri.
Abstract
Under the concept of separation of powers, the Judiciary is the arm of government saddled with responsibility of interpretation of law. In discharging this onerous responsibility, there are some rules of interpretation that have been developed overtime to guide judges in this regard. Taxation statutes, unlike other civil statutes, are regarded as penal in nature and therefore taxpayers of their proprietary rights. The courts, therefore, usually give strict interpretation to taxation statutes bearing in mind that finding against the taxpayer will result in deprivation in part of his profit and interest. On other occasions, however, the courts have been liberal in their interpretation of taxation statutes. This is suggestive of the fact that interpretation of taxation statutes can be dependent on the judges, but rather, it varies from country to country due to the understanding of the judge involved as well as the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case. Therefore, in order assess the attitude of courts towards taxation statute, this article uses the interpretation of taxation statutes in Nigeria, United Kingdom and United States as a yardstick for comparative analysis of judicial attitude to interpretation of taxation statutes across these three tax jurisdictions namely Nigeria, United Kingdom and the United States.
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University of Maiduguri (Unimaid) Journal of Private and Property Law. 6(1): 122-132