New tax laws won’t overburden Nigerians – Adedeji

Omeiza Bilal

The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) has said that the new tax laws will benefit poor and vulnerable Nigerians.

The Executive Chairman of the NRS, Dr. Zacch Adedeji, stated this when he appeared as a guest on AriseTv Sunday evening.

There have been several narratives by several high-profile Nigerians, bloggers and influencers, who continue to say that the Nigeria tax law is part of the government to further impoverish Nigerians who were already impacted by the twin policy of fuel subsidy removal and floating of the naira.

According to Dr. Adedeji, the idea is not to overburden compliant taxpayers.

Addressing some of the misinformation, NRS Executive Chairman, insisted that the new tax law will bring significant relief to poor Nigerians.

He said, “As you know, it is very difficult for people to part with their income, which unfortunately, is part of the tax bill. But in one summary, the whole essence of reform is to tax rights, not taxing more. We just want to tax rights, fairness, transparency, and then consolidate the whole system in order to simplify and unify the process of revenue administration.”

Clarifying the misinformation about the N50 deductions from their bank accounts, the NRS helmsman explained that contrary to reports, stamp duty is being deducted from the sender of any money.

He assured Nigerians that their bank accounts were safe saying that the deduction of N50 was already in operation since the President Tinubu assented to the Bills in June.

“Okay, let me just correct an impression. When you say the law started on January 1, as declared by the president, which is not totally correct. Okay, June 26. Mr. President has no hand in saying this is the day the law will start. The National Assembly passed the law; the law was passed on the 26th of June. From that day, two of those laws became operational, he said.

Addressing the controversies and misinformation about the laws, the NRS boss said “Those people you see promoting all these rumors, all this misinformation, are those people that are avoiding taxes that there is no way out for, based on the digitalization that we brought on board, like e-invoicing. So, if you transfer money to your brother, you transfer money to this is just your normal transfer. Nobody, no tax authority, whether state or federal, will go and pray into your bank account to say, okay, who transferred what or who did what.”

On the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), he explained that it is operational. 

“It’s an operational activity that we do, not only with France. We have with the UK, we have with South Africa, which is normal. It is part of the old law, and even the new law, that I need to facilitate the interaction between us and the global body for tax administration because the world now is a global village,” he further explained. 

He commended President Tinubu for having the courage to assent to the Bills in spite of the upcoming campaigns and the 2027 election that is on the horizon. “The President should be commended for have the boldness. It shows how courageous he is,” he added.