A former Special Adviser to the Ogun State Governor on Special Duties and Investment, Dr Ibrahim Osinowo, has kicked against the new tax reform policy introduced by the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to Nigerians.
Osinowo spoke in Abeokuta, the state capital, on Friday, when he paid a courtesy call to members of the State Executive of the African Democratic Party (ADC), led by the Chairman, Otunba Femi Soluade, at the party’s Secretariat in Itoko, an area in Abeokuta.
He described the tax reform as an anti-people policy and an attempt by the federal government to deepen the effects of economic hardships on Nigerians occasioned by subsidy removal.
The former SA wondered what the state and federal governments are using the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) revenue to do, saying that the tax reform policy would further escalate the skyrocketing inflation, raise prices of goods and services and increase hunger experienced by Nigerians.
He said, “Absolutely, the tax reforms are anti-Nigeria; Nigerians do not find them comfortable in terms of daily lives, income and the rest of it, so I am wondering what the APC-led administration is doing with the humongous revenue accumulated to the state and the national governments on subsidy.
“”So why bring up a tax reform where ordinary Nigerians could not live with more than N100,000 a month? So what is the benefit of the tax? Those taxes that have been collected. What have they been used for? We must question state governors: what are they using the increased FAAC for? So those are the questions we will ask during the forthcoming campaign. But the tax reform is anti-people and is not a good policy for Nigerians that are going through hardship for now.” he added