On Wednesday 10 October 2012, the President presented the 2013 Federal Budget to the joint session of the National Assembly under the theme “Fiscal Consolidation with Inclusive Growth”. As usual the budget is predicated mainly on crude oil revenue. A benchmark price of US$75 per barrel (US$ 72 in 2012) and a daily production of 2.53 million barrels (2.48m in 2012) have been projected for 2013.

Paying tax is important. Taxes provide government revenues and those who pay them have a stake in the system and in how government spends the money. Taxes are a life blood of a stable and prosperous society. In the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes, US Supreme Court of Justice, in 1904, “Taxes are the price you pay for civilisation”. Franklin D. Roosevelt, former president of the United States once said also that, “Taxes, after all, are the dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organised society.”

Property owners and tenants in the Federal Capital Territory (“FCT”) should brace up for more taxes if the proposed Bill currently under consideration at the National Assembly is anything to go by. The bill titled “The Federal Capital Territory Property Tax Bill, 2011” seeks to introduce a property tax payable on all real property situated in designated areas within the FCT. The FCT Authority claims that there is currently no property tax in the FCT hence the proposal.

From sports to entertainment, tourism to technology, infrastructural development to industrialisation, and the list goes on - Nigeria is a country that is often celebrated more for her potentials than real achievements. Quite so with over 160 million people we struggle for medals to no avail at the ongoing London 2012 Olympics.