Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has condemned recent threat by chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, suggesting the President Bola Tinubu administration would make life unbearable for Nigerians who fail to pay taxes.
CHRICED recalled that Oyedele was quoted as saying life would be made “impossible” for citizens who do not pay taxes because they will be unable to access key services, such as employment or international travel, because their transactions will be tracked using the National Identification Number (NIN) and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) registration.
CHRICED, in a statement signed by Executive Director, Dr. Ibrahim Zikirullahi, described the threat as insensitive, a draconian approach to increasing government revenue, and very inappropriate.
It further recalled that Oyedele had, in 2016, criticised Mr. Babatunde Fowler, a former chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over similar plans.
CHRICED said: “For a nation with a teeming population of unemployed, underemployed, indigent and vulnerable citizens, it is evident that designers of the tax initiative are either not using the correct data set or are hell-bent on inflicting more suffering on Nigerians.”
The organisation said it is not opposed to government’s plans to increase its revenue, but noted that it must be done with a focus on the people.
It described as insensitive, issuing of a generalised threat to deny essential services to all categories of citizens, “in the name of an imperialist and overzealous tax drive that is not based on a consultative, pro-poor and all-inclusive decision with citizens, but rather to satisfy external prescriptions by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.”
CHRICED noted: “In Nigeria, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), over 133 million citizens are currently living in multi-dimensional poverty. Poorly conceived and implemented government policies, such as the naira redesign of the previous regime and the subsidy removal and currency floating by the Tinubu administration have pushed many more people into abject poverty.
“Inflationary pressures have eroded the purchasing power of an increasing number of Nigerians, and small and medium-sized enterprises, which should have been the drivers of economic development, have failed. Millions of more Nigerians are no longer making meaningful contributions to economic growth, either because they have lost their businesses, jobs and other livelihood opportunities.”
It added: “Any government that is serious about rebuilding the wealth of the country and the dispensable income of citizens must think of strategies that would reflate the economy and bring back lost businesses and jobs, which have been seriously eroded by years of terrible anti-people policies of the ruling All Progressives Party (APC).
“Has the Tinubu government reined in the oil thieves and criminals that made the country lose billions of dollars monthly? What about the political swindlers that emptied our treasury, who are today recycled as legislators, ministers and governors? Has the government even thought of the reason why Nigerians are importing goods through the Republic of Benin, Niger and Chad due to excessive import duties and tariffs? The cost of governance is still rising with the new award of N70 billion to the National Assembly members for profligate expenses.
“For us at CHRICED, therefore, it is the responsibility of the government to put in place catalysts, which will enable energetic, innovative and hardworking Nigerians to create wealth and drive the economy. It is only after putting such incentives in place to boost the economy that the government will find a logical rationale to tax the wealth being generated.
“It, therefore, amounts to putting the cart before the horse for the government to be aggressively moving to tax poor and impoverished citizens, who actually need its interventions to reflate the economy.” (Guardian)
