Good Governance and Levies Compliance: A Country Residents’ Perception Paradigm

The paper examined the effect of good governance on residents’ levies compliance in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted to guide the research with a population of Nigerian Taxpayers resident in Bayelsa State, South-South Region. A sample size of 432 was purposively selected. Primary data were obtained through questionnaire and analyzed descriptively and inferentially. The analytical results of the hypotheses revealed the following findings. There is a weak significant influence of the exercise of rule of law on residents’ levies compliance. Transparency and accountability; Responsiveness by the government; Equity and all-inclusive government; Consensus orientation; and Effectiveness and efficiency have significant influence on residents’ levies compliance in Bayelsa State. The study concludes that good governance by government representatives at all level has significant influence on the pattern of residents’ levies payment in Nigeria. Based on the findings of the survey, the following recommendations are made: Government should increase the practice of rule of law in order to encourage more residents’ levies compliance or payment. Government should be: more transparent and accountable; Responsive in their representation; equitable and practice all-inclusive governance; effective and efficient in order to encourage more residents’ levies compliance. There should be consensus orientation of the citizens and other residents by governance in order to upscale more voluntary levies payment or compliance in Nigeria