Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform, Taiwo Oyedele, has said Nigeria cannot become a wealthy country by continuing to tax the most vulnerable in society.
Mr. Oyedele made this statement at the two-day Integrated National Financial Framework Core Working Group retreat held at the Continental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos on Thursday and Friday.
He noted that the most vulnerable people in the country were compliant with paying multiple taxes, adding that most people in the middle and upper classes were evading taxes, along with politicians.
“Our revenue share is embarrassingly low because we collect taxes primarily from the weak and allow the upper middle class, elites and politicians to evade taxes,” he said. . I can’t keep doing that anymore.
“In Nigeria, vulnerable people are overtaxed. Go out into the streets and look at the vulcanizers, water purifiers, market traders associations. They pay about 6 to 7 levies every day. are paying.
“That doesn’t make sense. You can’t become a rich country by taxing poverty. If you look at the personal income tax exemption criteria, people with an annual income of around 30,000 yen have to pay PIX.
“You can’t survive on your own. Why do you have to pay taxes? In some countries, you get credit instead so you can meet your basic needs.”
Mr. Oyedele noted that a system is in the works to reverse this trend and properly tax tax evaders to generate optimal returns.
Dr. Tony Muhumuza, Senior Economic Advisor of the United Nations Development Program, gave a lecture on “Strengthening Credit Ratings for Africa’s Development,” and said that the failure of global credit rating agencies to take into account the specificities of African countries in their ratings has led to He said that this leads to subjective ratings. countries.
Muhumuza lamented the high interest rates imposed on African countries at 11.65%, 8.5% higher than the US standard, adding that 87% of African countries were in junk status compared to 19% in Western Europe.
He said African countries’ good credit ratings demonstrate their ability to repay loans, meet debt obligations and borrow large amounts of money.
Jude Chiemeka, Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, provided insights on how financial markets can be leveraged for the financial SDGs in Nigeria.
“The role that financial markets can play is to provide financing through the issuance of green bonds,” he said.
He pointed out that SDGs financing instruments include green bonds, NGX impact bonds, infrastructure bonds, infrastructure funds, blue bonds, social bonds, sustainability bonds, etc.
