FG eyes single-digit tax for Nigerians

The Chairman Presidential Committee on Fiscal and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has said the Federal Government is eyeing a single-digit tax regime to reduce the burden of multiple taxation on Nigerians.

Speaking in an interview on Channels Television, Oyedele said a single-digit tax system, which allows less than 10 taxes to be paid by citizens or businesses within a period, will come to fruition upon the conclusion of the tax reforms embarked on by the Federal Government.

“Our hope is when we are done with our reforms, all the taxes will be down to single digit,” Oyedele said.

The chairman said his committee has put a framework in place to enhance cooperation in terms of data, tax intelligence and capacity building between tax authorities and states.

He said, “We want to be able to let the authorities trained on tax matters collect taxes while others focus on primary mandates and watch the economy grow in a way that benefits everyone,” Oyedele stated.

“The Nigerian tax administration bill is our term to try and put registration of taxpayers, filing of returns, assessment, doing tax audit, and using technology for tax administration. We are engaging with legislators and we believe that Nigerian lawmakers have concerns and we want to summarise the bill for them,” he further said.

While lamenting the backwardness of the current tax system practised by Nigeria, Oyedele said it would be a sad thing to stop the reforms of Nigeria’s tax system.

Amid pressures from some politicians against the tax reforms, the chairman said, “I think we can work out the differences for the process to continue and for the bills to be enacted.”

Oyedele had earlier shared on X that by simplifying the tax system, harmonising taxes and addressing impediments to investments, the reforms will boost economic activities and therefore enhance revenue generation for all tiers of government.

He said the removal of disincentives to business formalisation, use of technology, data for intelligence, and tax simplification are strategies eyed by the administration to increase tax revenue without raising tax burden.

“Beyond raising revenue, curbing tax evasion also ensures that there is a level playing field for all rather than implicitly penalising compliant taxpayers and rewarding evaders,” he said.

He further stated that small and large-scale businesses will benefit from the reforms because there will be a single levy at a reduced rate.

“Some of the proposals include reduction of corporate income tax rate from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over the next two years and elimination of earmarked taxes on companies to be replaced with a harmonised single levy at a reduced rate,” he added.