The Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, has stated that the country’s poorest citizens have been burdened with tax payments.
He emphasized the need to alleviate this burden, stating that the vulnerable deserve a break.
Oyedele made this disclosure during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Tuesday.
He explained that the concept of revenue transformation should go beyond celebrating incremental progress, as the current tax base is too small to make a significant impact.
Oyedele pointed out that focusing solely on increasing taxes for existing taxpayers is not the solution.
He stressed the importance of reassessing the tax system to relieve vulnerable individuals and small businesses of this burden.
Instead, he added that there would be a recheck in the tax system to enable the middle class, the elite, and those who can afford bear a fairer share of the tax responsibility, in line with the principle of progressive taxation.
He said, ”Revenue transformation for us meant we can no longer celebrate incremental progress because the base was just so small.
And for us it is not just about raising taxes for existing tax payers.
Infact one of the things we found was that it is mostly the poor people in nigeria who have been paying taxes.
So, it is time for them to take a break which means we have to look at the system again to take that burden away from vulnerable people, small businesses and let the middle class, the elites and the people who can afford, pay in line with the principle of progressivity when it comes to taxation.”
