Tinubu lessens Buhari’s yoke, floats tax harmonisation
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Bola Tinubu is adamant no new taxes will be introduced under his watch, in order to reverse the huge tax yoke his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari imposed on citizens and businesses that choked productivity and wellbeing in his locust years.
Buhari was a double whammy of tax pain. He enforced multiple taxation which yielded huge sums to the treasury but his officials them with impunity. Buhari was too lazy and irresponsible to check his officials.
However, his successor has also promised there will be no higher tax rates on existing ones so as to stimulate productivity and ensure strong purchasing power North and South.
Tinubu disclosed through Presidential Fiscal Policy And Tax Reforms Committee Chairman Taiwo Oyedele, a tax expert by profession, that Abuja will not introduce new taxes, government agencies can continue to collect revenue but the committee will harmonise the process.
Oyedele, former Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Lead at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), made the disclosures in a post on X (Twitter) while addressing frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the committee.
“No agency has been stopped from collecting revenue as many of them are empowered to do so by law,” he clarified.
“However, many of the agencies would rather focus on their primary functions, hence we intend to harmonise the fragmented revenue collection functions into one agency for each government.
“This is the case in many countries, including the leading tax regimes in Africa. This reform will help improve efficiency and enable the agencies to focus on their primary mandates for the overall benefit of the economy.”
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No higher tax rates on existing ones
Oyedele said while the committee does not intend to introduce new taxes and does not intend to impose higher tax rates on existing ones, per reporting by Vanguard.
“Rather, our mandate is to reduce the number of taxes and levies while harmonising revenue collection to reduce the burden on the people and businesses.
“The objective is to avoid taxing investment, capital, production or poverty. We plan to review and re-enact the major tax laws in a holistic manner thereby limiting the necessity for frequent changes through annual finance acts.”
Oyedele reiterated the average tax-to-GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio for Africa, excluding Nigeria, is about 18 per cent.
“This is the basis for the target of 18 per cent and the estimated tax gap of N20 trillion. There is a huge opportunity to generate revenue by leveraging technology and tax intelligence to close the gap.”
