The Nigerian Budget Office insists on progressive taxation

Ben Akabueze, the director-general of the Federation’s Budget Office, has stated that those working in the media and creative industries must begin paying taxes.

Akabueze, who had consistently insisted that Nigeria’s issue is one of revenue creation rather than debt, as is commonly assumed, also called for the imposition of higher taxes on wealthy Nigerians.

The World Bank’s report, “Nigeria Public Finance Review: Fiscal Adjustment for Better and Sustained Results,” was released on Monday in Abuja, and Akabueze announced this during the event. The head of the budget office had asked that wealthy Nigerians be forced to pay taxes in proportion to their income.

Assessing wealth properly in taxes Akabueze Added:

“We need to tax the rich. We have extremely wealthy people existing side-by-side with extremely poor people. I describe it as an ‘elite conspiracy’ not to distribute a fair share of the nation’s resources.
“If you own a private jet that is fantastic. If you buy one for yourself, buy one for the country by paying a 100% tax on it. This is not an area of debate.

“Certain sectors that are growing very well also need to pay taxes. The creative and media– you have all these folks assaulting us daily with the show 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.”

Patience Oniha, director-general of the Debt Management Office (DMO), also spoke at a panel discussion and stated that she would love to have all of Nigeria’s external borrowings as concessional facilities. But she added that there weren’t many concessional sources, so it was necessary to look elsewhere.

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She also emphasized the necessity to get funds from the nation’s assets rather than disregarding them and increasing tax income. While agreeing with Oniha, the president’s main economic adviser Doyin Salami warned that if Nigerians don’t pay taxes, the country will have to borrow money at higher interest rates.

He said, “If you don’t pay tax, you will pay high-interest rates because if you don’t pay tax, we have to go borrowing and if we borrow, we have to repay the loans with higher interest rates. We have to raise more taxes from the rich for social balance,”