The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu has urged the Federal Government not to increase the Value Added Tax (VAT).
Speaking on Thursday during the 11th Bola Tinubu Colloquium marking his 67th birthday, at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, Tinubu said an increase in VAT will reduce the spending capacity of the people and might increase hardship.
THEWILL recalls that the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma; and the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler, had said the Federal Government was considering an upward review of VAT by 50 per cent following the approval of N30,000 as minimum wage by the National Assembly.
Udoma and Fowler who stated this on Tuesday when they appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance, said the increment was to, among others, enable the Federal Government to fund the new national minimum wage.
Fowler said the proposed payable VAT by Nigerians based on the increment would actually be between 35 per cent (6.75%) and 50 per cent (7.25%).
