Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says Christians in Nigeria owe the federal government three types of tax, for which payment was an obligation they must strive to keep.
Mr Osinbajo was speaking at the public presentation of a book titled ‘Kumuyi, Defender of the Faith,’ a biography of the founder of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Folorunsho Kumuyi.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported Mr Osinbajo as listing the personal income tax (which is also company tax) as the first, and social tax or philanthropy tax as the second.
“The third tax is a civic tax.
The obligation of the successful to write their stories, to share the histories of the phenomena they have become, in order to instruct, to admonish and to inspire the present and the future,” the vice president was quoted as saying.
Mr Osinbajo’s admonition to Christians comes at a time the federal government and some state governments are in court over which of the levels of government has the right to collect Value Added Tax (VAT) and Personal Income Tax.
Rivers recently got a judgment from the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt declaring the federal government’s collection of VAT as illegal and unconstitutional.
To implement the court ruling, both Rivers and Lagos have gone ahead to sign VAT bills into laws in their respective states, and even though an Appeal Court has asked that both maintain the status quo, the states insist they will collect VAT.
Meanwhile, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says civil society organisations and other non-governmental organisations are not exempted from paying VAT, adding that they owe the federal government tax responsibilities.
