President Bola Tinubu will make life unbearable for Nigerians evading tax payment, Taiwo Oyedele, newly appointed revenue adviser to the president, has stated.
Mr Oyedele, named the chair of a Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms earlier this month, warned that tough times lie ahead for Nigerians who do not pay their taxes, as their daily economic activities will now be tied to their NIN or CAC registrations.
“I will make your life impossible until you use NIN or the CAC registration,” said Mr Oyedele at an event organised in conjunction with BudgIT at Radisson Blu, Lagos, on July 21. “You cannot get a job; you can’t travel abroad; you can’t get a passport; you can’t open a bank account; you can’t get a payment card.”
Mr Oyedele, a former senior staff at PwC, one of the world’s Big Four accounting firms, implied that the tax identifications adopted by the previous Muhammadu Buhari regime have been ineffectual and instead proposed using technology to gather tax intelligence.
According to him, the government will use citizens’ economic transactions to determine their true worth and compute a corresponding tax levy.
“Discontinue with all these tax identifications and just use NIN for individuals and CAC registrations for businesses,” the former PwC Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader said at the event.
“Every economic activity, tie it to NIN, and once you’re done, collect the intelligence. It will say, ‘Dear Taiwo Oyedele, from our systems, we can see you’re worth N200 million. Can you explain this your tax or non-payment of tax to us?’” Mr Oyedele said, giving an illustration of what Nigerians should expect in the coming days.
However, Mr Oyedele’s statement contradicts his previous stance when Babatunde Fowler, the then-FIRS chair, suggested a similar approach: Nigerians must provide proof of tax payment before using immigration services and acquiring a passport.
He tackled Mr Fowler in 2016 that it was the right of every citizen to own a passport and they should not be denied, particularly those without tax obligations.
“I do not think it is right to make tax compliance a requirement for obtaining international passport, especially because all Nigerians are entitled to it, including minors and elderly who may have no tax compliance obligations,” Mr Oyedele said in 2016.
“Also, some people require international passports for emergency situations such as medical treatment abroad,” he added.
Peoples Gazette could not immediately reach Mr Oyodele for comments clarifying why he is proposing the policy he opposed years ago to reject draconian tax measures as calls to his mobile phone were left unanswered.
