CHAPTER ONE
1.1    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Tax is a major source of government revenue. The tax system of any country usually has two component. Those are the law and it administration.
The tax laws are used to determine the liability of tax payers, the tax rate and the tax base. Tax administration whether effective or not used to determine the success or failure of any tax system. Different tax law (regulation, decrees etc) have been enacted in order to regulate the tax system. The success of any tax system of any country can only be anchored on effective tax administration for example when a tax payer has been assessed to tax and the amount of tax to be paid has been determined, the tax is to be  collected at a minimum collection cost and  because an effective tax administration ensures accountability of the government to the tax payers the amount so collected should be used to provide basic infrastructure that will be of benefit to the same tax payers on the other hands, if the administration is defective, there will be non- accountability, high collection cost, high rate of tax evasion and tax avoidance (the twin devils) corruption and so on.
Tax is the surest form of revenue among the source of receive to government because the citizen will  always be there even when other   source of revenue fail. For example, land might 80 barren, the oil wells might dry up, corporation might no longer be profitable but the citizen will always be there to be taxed.
Taxation can also be measured in terms of effectiveness as a fiscal policy tools.
Ordinary, taxation is used to correct any imbalances in the economy in order to achieve economic goal and development. The major objectives of taxation as a fiscal policy tool includes:
1)    It is used to redistribute income or wealth
2)    It is used to protect infant industries
3)    It is also used to discourage the consumption of goods
4)    It is also used to allocate resources
Therefore, taxation, whether as a source of revenue or as fiscal policy tool cannot succeed of its administration is defective or weak. As Tanzi (1980) has pointed out, tax administration plays a crucial role in determining the real or effective tax system, as opposed to statutory. Tax system Bird (1991) says “Tax policy change without administrative change is nothing”.
Considering the importance of effective tax administration, it is importance to establish a long-range vision for effective and suitable tax administration in Nigeria going by the present state of the tax administration in Nigeria. The purpose of this research is to consider the present tax administration in Nigeria with the aim of proffering feasibly solution to its shortcomings.
1.2    STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Tax administration in Nigeria is the focal point of this study. Obviously there are some recognized problems confronting effective tax administration in Nigeria. These problems need to be recognized and solutions have to be proffered to them. Such problems include:
1)    Inconsistency of tax policies
2)    Poor legal structure
3)    Lack of qualified tax personnel and officers
4)    Poor information or data Bank and non-computerization of the tax system etc
These and other problems shall be looked into in this research work
1.3    OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
This study will be centered on the following:
1)    Analysis of the problems related to the administration of the tax in Nigeria by attempting to identify observable problems which make tax administration ineffective.
2)    Also to seek explanation to the inhibiting factors in the tax administration.
3)    Why are the punitive measure put in place by the government has not been effective and efficiently carried out
4)    Lastly, to form a basis for making suffusions towards reforming the tax administration in Nigeria 
Also, we will look into how taxation as a fiscal policy can be effective in order to achieve the desired goal of economic stability.