The Nigerian Revenue Service has allayed fears that the re-gazetted tax law will adversely affect poor Nigerians.
In an interview on Arise TV, NRS chairman Zacch Adedeji said more than 95 per cent of poor Nigerians were totally exempted from paying taxes in the new laws.
“If you listen to us during the public hearing, the focus of these tax laws is to give relief to the poor and make sure that those people at the lower realm feel little impact,” Mr Adedeji stated. “That is why I said that we are taxing right, not taxing more. Because if you look at all the exemptions, you’ll see that 95% of the poor are totally exempted. VAT removed for food and transportation. The poor are the most beneficiaries of these tax reforms.”
Misgivings have trailed the re-gazetted tax law since it became fully operational on January 1, 2026.
However, Mr Adedeji said, “The tax laws didn’t start January 1st. The reforms became effective the day Mr President signed them into law on June 26, as legislated by the national assembly. Mr President had no hand in saying this is when the laws would start.
“On that day, two of those laws became operational. The other two were given two months because the tax policies say when you’re changing rates, you must give three months for companies to adjust.
“We now give them six months to do the adjustment. All laws started in June when the president signed them and gave the backing that the laws are one in a generation chance we have to set the fiscal standard that will sustain the kind of prosperity Nigeria needs.”
Regarding the modalities involved in taxing personal incomes, Mr Adedeji said, “Most of these personal incomes are within the purview of the state revenue-generating agencies. For the federal government, we pay attention to corporate taxes. A lot of the complaints people talk about are at the state level.
“Part of the reform we have done is that most states have started domesticating just to remove all the problems people talk about. Our interest is to make people prosper, because it’s in their prosperity that we’ll have our own revenues.”
The tax chief claimed that individuals spreading rumours about the new tax laws were largely tax avoiders.
“No tax officer will pry into your accounts,” stated Mr Adedeji. “The law is clear: we can only tax profit, consumption, returns, not investment.”
