D.A. TONWE

Taxation is the nucleus and the path to modern development. Thus, the study was to assess the impact of poor taxation on the development of Local Government Areas. This is because local government as the third tier of government and the closest to the people especially in the rural areas needed revenue to provide basic social amenities to the people. But it is unfortunate to note that the local government management have not lived up to expectation especially to provide basic social amenities to the rural people. Thus, the objective of the research was to analyze the extent to which poor taxation had affected the development of those areas. The researcher used primary and secondary methods of data collection to generate the needed data. The data obtained through questionnaire was presented in tables and expressed in simple percentages. The following were some of the findings which included poor development of the areas, lack of basic social amenities to the rural people and lack of effective tax collection mechanisms. The study also revealed that poor taxation by local government in Nigeria has affected the spread of development to all the nooks and crannies of the country. Thus local government councils and their management should strategically plan on proper measures to generate revenue as to meet with their functions as provided by the constitution of the country