FG targets multiple tax cut

Mr Taiwo Oyedele, the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, has outlined his goal of reducing the number of taxes collected in Nigeria to less than ten.

He emphasised this objective during the 53rd annual conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria in Abuja.

Oyedele highlighted the burden on Nigerian business operators due to over 62 officially collected taxes at various government levels.

He also expressed concern about the numerous informal taxes imposed throughout the country.

As part of his plan, Oyedele aims to streamline the revenue collection agencies to have one for each tier of government, simplifying the taxation system.

He said, “At the federal level. The list is somewhere close to 16 officially at the state level, 25 Local Government 21, but this is just the beginning of the story.

The story is incomplete. Until you add the over 108 informal taxes collected all over the place, sometimes by non-state actors that have been empowered, either passively or actively, by the government,

“In fact, we have bicycle taxes and wheelbarrow tasks in Nigeria. I think if you are looking for the definition of wickedness, it will be to find a man who is struggling to make ends meet, pushing their wheel in the sun, and say, you have not paid your tax.

“What I want and hope to achieve is the reduction of the number of taxes to less than 10; yes, we want a single digit, and we also want to cut down revenue collection agencies to one for each tier of government

With this, the federal government has one revenue collection agency; the same is true for state and local governments.

So that they can focus on their primary mandate of making life easier for citizens.”