Headline

FG targets wealthy Nigerians in new tax drive

Published

8 months ago

September 29, 2023

The Federal Government is planning to overhaul the nation’s tax system to shift more of the burden to wealthy citizens while cutting corporate taxes.

The move — part of President Bola Tinubu’s reforms to overhaul the beleaguered economy – aims to lift the country’s tax take to 18 per cent of Gross Domestic Product within three years from 11 per cent now, according to a Bloomberg report.

A tax amnesty to encourage compliance is also under consideration.

The plan is to make “the rich pay what is fair and those who are too poor can be protected,” said Taiwo Oyedele, who is leading a panel appointed by Tinubu to drive the changes.

“We also envisage a reduction in the corporate income tax rate,” to below the current effective rate of more than 40 per cent to help boost business, he told Bloomberg in a recent interview. The new rate should be benchmarked against Nigeria’s peers, he said.

In Africa’s most populous nation, where a tiny minority enjoy vast wealth while two thirds of its 200 million people live in extreme poverty, the numbers suggest widespread tax evasion.

Nigeria’s tax revenue as a share of GDP is a third of the 34 per cent average for members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Among four million registered firms, less than 250,000 actively pay tax, while fewer than a quarter of the 41 million registered people pay income tax, Oyedele said.

The country’s tax system is bedeviled by overlapping local, state and federal jurisdictions, which helps the wealthy to slip through the cracks. The high number of different taxes, which he put at almost 70, also adds to complexity.

“We will find a way to create structures and systems around what taxes can be imposed, how it can be collected, who can collect it and how it should be accounted for,” he said. The goal is to slash the number of taxes down to single digits.

“We just identified the top eight giving us 99% of the taxes, so we keep them and the rest we get rid of,” he said.

Boosting tax collection is vital for a country which, despite its immense oil wealth, has had to borrow heavily to fill the gap between government spending and the revenue shortfall.

Since 2015, the nation’s public debt has increased almost eight-fold to 87.4 trillion naira ($112.6 billion), according to the debt management agency. Servicing those obligations consumed 96% of government revenue in 2022.

A tax amnesty will be introduced to provide a relief on old debts and prepare the mind of the people to meet future obligations.

“If people know that government knows their income, where they are; if they haven’t been paying their taxes, if we declare an amnesty they will show up,” he said.

Headline

EFCC bars dollar transactions, orders embassies to charge in naira

Published

3 days ago

May 11, 2024

Desmond Ukafor

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has barred foreign missions based in Nigeria from transacting in foreign currencies and mandated them to use Naira in their financial businesses.

The EFCC has also mandated Nigerian foreign missions domiciled abroad to accept Naira in their financial businesses.

The anti-graft agency said the move is to tackle the dollarisation of the Nigerian economy and the degradation of the naira

The Commission, therefore, asked the government to stop foreign missions in Nigeria from charging visa and other consular services in foreign denominations.

The EFCC gave the advisory in a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar, for onward transmission to all foreign missions in the country.

In the letter, the EFCC said it issued the advisory because the practice of paying for consular services in dollars was in conflict with extant laws and financial regulations in Nigeria.

In a letter dated April 5, 2024, which was addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, titled: “EFCC Advisory to Foreign Missions against Invoicing in US Dollar,” the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede expressed dismay over the invoicing of consular services in Nigeria by foreign missions in dollars.

The EFCC cited Section 20(1) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007, which makes currencies issued by the apex bank the only legal tender in Nigeria.

The letter read, “I present to you the compliments of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and wish to notify you about the commission’s observation, with dismay, regarding the unhealthy practice by some foreign missions to invoice consular services to Nigerians and other foreign nationals in the country in United States dollar ($).

“It states that ‘the currency notes issued by the Bank shall be the legal tender in Nigeria on their face value for the payment of any amount’.

“This presupposes that any transaction in currencies other than the naira anywhere in Nigeria contravenes the law and is, therefore, illegal.”

The commission further stated that the rejection of the naira for consular services in Nigeria by certain missions, along with non-compliance with foreign exchange regulations in determining service costs, is not just unlawful but also undermines the nation’s sovereignty embodied in its official currency.

The letter continues: “This trend can no longer be tolerated, especially in a volatile economic environment where the country’s macroeconomic policies are constantly under attack by all manner of state and non-state actors.

“In light of the above, you may wish to convey the commission’s displeasure to all missions in Nigeria and restate Nigeria’s desire for their operations not to conflict with extant laws and regulations in the country.”

Diplomatic sources said yesterday, May 10, that some embassies were wondering whether the EFCC’s advisory represented the position of the Federal Government.

Headline

Prince Harry visits sick Nigerian soldiers in Kaduna

Published

3 days ago

May 11, 2024

Alero Danjuma

Prince Harry and his team visited the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital in Kaduna to interact with wounded soldiers who are receiving treatment.

The Duke of Sussex is in Nigeria with his wife to champion the Invictus Games, which Harry founded to aid the rehabilitation of wounded and sick servicemembers and veterans.

Nigeria joined the Invictus Community of Nations in 2022 becoming the first African country to join.

Prince Harry’s visit to Kaduna came 68 years after his late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II visited the state during the time of the late Premier of Northern Region Sir Ahmadu Bello.