From Our Correspondent
Contrary to viral disinformation in the public space, The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has said there are no signs that President Bola Tinubu’s administration intends to increase taxes indiscriminately.
TMSG made this known in a statement signed by its Chairman and Secretary, Emeka Nwankpa and Dapo Okubanjo, respectively, on Monday, in Abuja.
“In fact, President Tinubu has been working relentlessly to reduce the burden of multiple taxation on Nigerians.
“The net effect of the President’s move will benefit 95 per cent of the populace”, TMSG said in the statement emailed to TheNewsZenith.
According to the group, there has been spurious media propaganda, from certain elements misinforming Nigerians about the Tinubu administration
“We have noticed how certain elements have been making conscious efforts to misinform Nigerians.
“They are creating a wrong perception about the Tinubu administration in the public space.
“These spurious and frivolous media propaganda are dubious and uncalled for.
“No new taxes are being contemplated or let alone, increasing existing ones. There is no truth to those narratives.
“They are indeed lies told and spread to malign President Bola Tinubu and his administration.”
TMSG argued that the administration has been working to reduce the tax burden on Nigerians in the informal sector.
“For the avoidance of doubt, President Tinubu, soon after assuming office, set up a Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee.
“The Committee’s mandate is to increase the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio from the current 10.86 per cent to 18 per cent in the next three years.
“This is without introducing new taxes.
“Within its first few months in operation, the committee revealed that Nigerians have been paying 60 official and 200 unofficial taxes across all levels of government.
“The committee expressed the Federal Government’s readiness to reduce these taxes from 200 to just ten.
“We agree that small businesses have, over the years, been struggling with multiple taxation.
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“The Presidential committee has recommended that those earning ₦25 million and less annually, should be exempted from paying taxes.
“These include withholding, income and value-added tax (VAT).
“This is aside from engaging with state governments to suspend ‘nuisance taxes” that do not add value to the coffers.
“The thinking of the Tinubu’s administration is to stop local government officials from extorting people,” TheNewsZenith quotes TMSG as stating.
The group also addressed a long-standing distortion that opposition elements have been using to paint President Tinubu badly.
“It is shocking that some Nigerians are distorting comments made by Asiwaju Tinubu at his 2019 Colloquium on plans by the then President Muhammadu Buhari administration to increase VAT.
“Unscrupulous people, through deception, have been recycling claims that he made a case for reduction in Nigerians’ purchasing power.
“Many fact-checking agencies including the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) have debunked it.
“But mischievous elements have continued to circulate it.
“We, hereby, rehash what President Tinubu said on the day which was twisted: ‘Put a huge question mark on any increase on VAT, please.
`If we reduce the purchasing power of the people, we can further slow down the economy. Let’s widen the tax net.
‘Those who are not paying now, if it is inclusive of Bola Tinubu, let the net get bigger and we take in more taxes. And, that is what we must do in the country, instead of an additional layer of taxes. For now, I’ll stop there’.
“We agree with fact-checkers and make bold to say that Tinubu not only spoke against an increase in VAT.
“But he also advocated a broader tax net to bring in more people rather than a general increase in taxation.
“Like the World Trade Organisation (WTO) DG, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala recently suggested, President Tinubu is keen on broadening the tax net to improve the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio.
“We urge mischief makers to stop the long-standing distortion,” TMSG added.
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