FG Proposing Law To Increase VAT To 10% For Nigerians — Taiwo Oyedele

The Federal Government is planning to propose a law to the National Assembly to raise the value-added tax (VAT) from 7.5% to 10%.

The Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele disclosed this during an interview on Channels TV’s “Politics Today.”

He also revealed that the committee is working on combining various taxes in Nigeria to reduce the overall tax burden.

Oyedele stated that several existing taxes, like the IT levy and education tax, will be consolidated into one tax, starting at 4% and eventually reducing to 2% in the coming years.

According to him, the draft tax law prepared by the committee will be submitted to the National Assembly.

Oyedele outlined the committee’s three main objectives: reviewing the country’s financial management, improving revenue generation (since current revenue levels are extremely low), and better managing government assets.

He said, “We have significant issues in our tax revenue. We have issues of revenue generally which means tax and non-tax. You can describe the whole fiscal system in a state that is in crisis.

“When my committee was set up, we had three broad mandates. The first one was to look at governance: our finances as a country, borrowing, coordination within the federal government and across sub-national.

“The second one was revenue transformation. The revenue profile of the country is abysmally low. If you dedicate our whole revenue to fixing roads it will be insufficient. The third is on government assets.

“The law we are proposing to the National Assembly has the rate of 7.5% moving to 10% from 2025. We don’t know how soon they will be able to pass the law. Then subsequent increases are also indicated in terms of the year they will kick in.

“While we are doing that, we have a corresponding reduction in personal income tax. Anybody that is earning about N1.5 million a month or less, they will see their personal income tax come down. Companies will have income tax rate come down by 30% over the next two years to 25%. That is a significant reduction.

“Other taxes they pay are quite many: IT levy, education tax, etc. All these we are consolidating into a single one. They will pay 4% initially. That will go down to 2& in the next few years.”

KanyiDaily recalls that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) recently announced its intention to ensure that skit makers, influencers, and digital content creators in Nigeria fulfill their tax obligations.