The director general of the Federation Budget Office, Ben Akabueze, has said that people in the creative and media sectors need to start paying taxes.
Akabueze, who had always maintained that Nigeria has an income problem and not a debt problem, as is widely believed, also called for more taxes on wealthy Nigerians to improve income generation.
This was announced by Akabueze on Monday at the launch of the World Bank report entitled ‘Review of Nigeria’s Public Finances: Fiscal Adjustment for Better and Sustained Results’, in Abuja.
The head of the budget office had insisted that wealthy Nigerians should pay taxes commensurate with their income.
Tax the rich well: Akabueze said,
- “We need to tax the rich. We have extremely rich people coexisting with extremely poor people. I describe it as an ‘elite conspiracy’ to fail to distribute a fair share of the nation’s resources.
- “If you have a private jet, that’s great. If you buy one for yourself, buy one for the country by paying 100% tax. This is not an area for debate.
- “Certain sectors that are growing very well also need to pay taxes. The creatives and the media: you have all these people storming us daily with the spectacle of their new cars. I don’t see any other option. We have to tax the rich. They should pay taxes commensurate with their earnings.”
tax plus: Also speaking during a panel session, Patience Oniha, director general of the Debt Management Office (DMO), said she would prefer to have all of Nigeria’s external loans as concessional facilities.
She, however, explained that the concessionary sources were limited and, therefore, others had to be explored.
Furthermore, he stressed the need to collect more tax revenue and fund the nation’s assets rather than ignore them.
The president’s top economic adviser, Doyin Salami, agreeing with Oniha, said Nigerians must pay taxes for the country to generate revenue or be forced to pay higher interest rates on borrowed funds.
- He said, “If you don’t pay taxes, you’re going to pay high interest rates because if you don’t pay taxes, we have to go into debt, and if we go into debt, we have to pay back the higher interest rate loans. We have to collect more taxes from the rich for social balance.”