Nigeria has around 60 different types of taxes and levies, according to Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms.
He continued by saying that many taxes made living in society for the poor intolerable.
On Monday, our journalist listened in as Oyedele appeared as a guest on the Channels Television program “Sunrise Daily.”
He 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.
He claims that the Ijara-Isin community in Kwara has residents who have their own “currency.”
“Up together today, we have over 60 of those different taxes and levies. We think we should have less than 10 single digits. We think by having less than 10 that the magic is that people will actually pay less, and government will collect more because where you get the efficiency from is the collection that sometimes does not go to the government today.
“The Market Traders Association told us that you need seven tickets every day just to sell pure water. Seven tickets for what? That is from the Local Government, but it is not in the constitution.”
He pointed out that local governments collected the majority of these taxes, but they frequently did not transfer the funds they received to the general 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 open and responsible.