Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has disclosed that the government is set to go after wealthy Nigerians who evade payment of tax in the country with a new tax regime.
Speaking at a colloquium in Lagos to mark the 65th birthday anniversary of former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, she noted that many Nigerian entrepreneurs have developed the habit of not paying tax.
Adeosun pointed out that one of the strategies the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari intends to use in boosting the country’s revenue is through tax mobilisation.
According to her, “It is a pity that Nigeria has one of the lowest tax regime ratio globally at six percent. The only country that is lower than us is Oman. We have so many wealthy entrepreneurs, who have managed to develop habit of not paying tax, we need to correct that.”
She said economic challenge confronting the country required multiple strings of revenue since the oil has proved that it would be an unreliable source of revenue.
Assuring that the country will soon be out of economic recession, the minister revealed that the federal government was already copying the Lagos template to revive the economy.
To make the economy productive, she said the federal government recently released N1trillion for capital expenditure, adding that measures were being taken to bring about multiple streams of revenue.
“The economic template we copied from you (Lagos) is now being implemented for economic recovery of the country and we are not ashamed to say it. The impact of that template is that many of the states are now copying it, especially in the area of IGR,” Adeosun stated.
She recalled that “when the administration of Tinubu, as Lagos State governor, introduced a new tax regime, he became unpopular, but, today, when we see the infrastructure, I don’t think anyone will blame him for his action.
“I take this opportunity to reach out to the millionaires and billionaires that you will hear from me, soon. It is a shame that we are one of the largest owners of crude oil, but, we cannot enjoy the revenue from it.
“Oil has proven that it would be an unreliable source of revenue. The price is unstable,” the minister added.
