The Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, has noted that while the most vulnerable people are paying multiple taxes, the middle, upper class and the politicians are evading tax.
The Nation, reported that Oyedele said this on Thursday, during the Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) Core Working Group Retreat held at the Continental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The INFF is the framework for financing national sustainable development priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the country level. Our revenue percentage is embarrassingly low because we mostly collect taxes from vulnerable people, and we allow the upper middle class, the elites and the politicians to evade tax. We cannot continue like that anymore,” he said.
Taiwo said that the vulnerable are the most taxed in Nigeria and there’s no way Nigeria could get adequate revenue by taxing her most vulnerable citizens.
He said: “The vulnerable people are overtaxed in Nigeria. Go on the street and see the vulcanizer, the pure water seller and the market trader associations pay about 6 to 7 levies every day. It can’t make sense. We can’t become a wealthy country by taxing poverty.
If you look at the exemption threshold for Personal Income Tax (PIT), people who earn around 30,000 have to pay . You can’t survive even if you’re living alone. Why should you pay tax?
Even in some countries, you get credited instead so you can meet your basic needs”.