The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele has dispelled rumours that the Federal Government plans to impose new taxes on Nigerians saying that the Tinubu’s administration has no intention to do so.
Oyedele made this known on Sunday via his X Twitter account while answering questions on the objectives and achievements of the Committee since its inauguration on August 8.
The chairman said that rather than increase taxes, the committee’s responsibility is to reduce the number of taxes and levies and harmonise revenue collection for ease of doing business.
“We do not intend to introduce new taxes or impose higher tax rates. Rather, our mandate is to reduce the number of taxes and levies while harmonising revenue collection to reduce the burden on the people and businesses. The objective is to avoid taxing investment, capital, production or poverty. We plan to review and re-enact the major tax laws in a holistic manner thereby limiting the necessity for frequent changes through annual finance acts,”
Oyedele who gave an insight into achieving the 18 per cent tax-to-GDP ratio mandated by the committee to improve the nation’s income generation within three years,said “The average tax-to-GDP ratio for Africa excluding Nigeria is about 18%. This is the basis for the target of 18% and the estimated tax gap of N20 trillion.”
According to him,“There is a huge opportunity to generate revenue by leveraging technology and tax intelligence to close the tax gap. In addition, we will rationalize incentives, reduce the cost of collection, and optimise revenue from government assets and natural resources. This way we can generate more revenue without introducing new taxes.”
Explaining further he said, “The committee will work with all levels of government as critical stakeholders to ensure effective collaboration in the design and implementation of necessary fiscal policy changes and localisation of reforms at the subnational level as may be applicable,”
