Temidayo Akinsuyi
The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele on Monday said many Nigerians do not pay taxes because they don’t trust the government with the judicious use of the monies realized from the collection of taxes.
Oyedele made the remark while featuring as a guest on Channels Television programme ‘Sunrise Daily’ monitored by QUEST TIMES.
Reacting to spending by the government, Oyedele who said the non-completion of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway for over 10 years is not good enough also bemoans a situation where some government build flyovers yet their people lack potable water or good classrooms for students
He said “The mandate of the presidential committee that I have the opportunity to chair is quite broad and it covers issues around spending. That is the quality of spending and the priority of what you are spending the money on”.
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“I will say for example, if it took us over 10 years and we haven’t completed the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, that is not good enough. If you are building flyovers when you don’t have clean potable water, you don’t have primary schools with covered roofs, it is the wrong priority. Even when the priority is right, is that the amount you should be spending?”
“Every time I look at the Auditor-General’s report, it breaks my heart. And some of the studies that we have done even before my current role around the tax perception shows that Nigerians do not trust the government and it is one of the reasons they don’t want to pay taxes”.
He further assured Nigerians that the administration of President Bola Tinubu would not impose higher tax rates on them.
“We do not intend to introduce new taxes or impose higher tax rates. Rather, our mandate is to reduce the number of taxes and levies while harmonizing revenue collection to reduce the burden on the people and businesses”.