The chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, stated that the goal of his committee was to bring down taxes and levies to less than 10, which would represent an 83.33 percent reduction.
According to Channels Television, he stated on Monday that Nigeria has around 60 different types of taxes and levies.
He continued by saying that many taxes made living in society for the poor intolerable.
He said, “Up together today, we have over sixty of those various taxes and levies. We believe that there should be fewer than 10 single digits. Because the collection that sometimes does not go to the government now is where you get the efficiency from, we believe that by having fewer than 10 the magic is that people will really pay less and government will collect more.
“According to the Market Traders Association, selling pure water requires seven tickets daily. What are seven tickets for? Despite not being in the constitution, that is what the local government is doing.”
He pointed out that while the majority of these levies came from local governments, the majority of the money they received was not remitted to government coffers.
He claimed that certain local governments were abusing the constitution to impose fees on the underprivileged members of society who were already struggling to make ends meet, such as wheelbarrow taxes and pure water taxes.
Oyedele added that one of the reasons Nigerians did not pay taxes was a lack of trust in the government.
He argued that Nigerians should put their efforts into making the government transparent and responsible.
