The Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, has said that 90% of those paying tax are those who should not be paying in the first place.

He made this declaration at the 30th Nigeria Economic Summit organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and the Ministry of Budget and National Planning on Monday in Abuja.
“People will pay tax once we decide that they have to pay. What we realise is that almost 90 per cent of people who are paying taxes are those who should not have been paying in the first place,”

According to him 97% of of those in the informal sector should be formally exempted from tax.
“So that’s where we came up with the data that 97 per cent of the informal sector should be formally exempted from taxes. People do not understand where we are coming from. They’re not the ones to pay taxes. They’re just trying to survive.”

He further revealed the plan of the government to tax wealthy Nigerians more.

“Wealthy Nigerians earning N100million and above monthly will face a 25 per cent personal income tax rate if a new tax bill is passed by the National Assembly.”
He stressed that there is a need to strike a balance by ensuring that wealthy Nigerians contribute more to the government’s revenue.

“If you earn N100m a month, we are taking up to 25 per cent from the rich people. That’s because we need to balance the books,” Oyedele noted.

For middle-income earners making N1.5m or less per month, Oyedele disclosed that their personal income tax obligations would decrease while those earning higher amounts would see incremental increases in their tax rates, eventually reaching 25 percent. Lower-income earners would be fully exempt from personal income tax.
There have been discussions about new tax policies by the government especially with moves to multiple taxation for businesses.

He added that the proposed changes are expected to take effect from January 2025, based on the passage of the bill by lawmakers.