Doyin Okupe, Former spokesman to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan has said opponents of the proposed Tax Reform Bills are enemies of the country.
Gatekeepers News reports that Okupe during an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said the bills are pro-poor and pro-development and no sane person would stand against the reforms which are aimed at protecting the poor and tackling corruption.
He said, “Any right-thinking human being who has had the opportunity in these last two months or so to listen and to read what the tax reforms are all about and goes against it, is an enemy of the country.”
“We are saying that majority of poor people should not pay tax, how can anybody be against that?”
“These reform bills are saying that companies that are not making money cannot be taxed arbitrarily. Their taxation will be based on revenue that they have generated and profit that made, not on turnover.”
“And if your turnover is below 50 million, you are exempted, should anyone oppose this?”
“If these tax bills can be passed, they will also help reduce corruption.”
Commenting on North opposition to the Tax Reform Bills before National Assembly, the former Director-General of Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Organisation said the North had no justifiable reason to oppose the bills.
Okupe added that Nigeria’s democracy had been based on oil and not on taxation which was not sustainable.
He said, “Go and look at all countries in the world, the major source of revenue for government is taxation, but we don’t consider tax as an issue because we just take the oil, and then look at what are we going to get in the next 12 months for budget.”
The former spokesman noted that First Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) had achieved a lot in revenue generation in the last year.
He said, “Our tax to GDP ratio is one of the lowest in the world, and here is a country that requires immense amount of money and revenue for development.”
“Population is high, land mass is big and huge. Therefore, we need money, and this tax reform is saying, ‘yes, we need money, but we cannot tax people who are already strangulated. Leave those ones alone.”
“There are young people who are making money, who go to clubs and spend N3million, N4 million and so on in a night. Those are the people that need to be taxed, not the man at the door earning N70,000 monthly.”
Okupe further criticised the concerns raised about the timing and the speed of the bills, saying that whatever is causing economic and financial hemorrhage must be given the speed it requires.
He said the tax reform bills would enhance more states’ internally generated revenue, thereby benefitting the people.
Okupe, however, called on President Tinubu to monitor all revenue-generated agencies to remove corruption and all practices capable of shortchanging the nation.
According to him; with adequate technology in place, the fight against corruption would be won and Nigerians would be free.
He said that if Customs, Immigration, Nigerian Communications Technology, Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), NIMASA, and other revenue-generating agencies employ emerging technologies, corruption would be fought to a standstill.
Okupe said corruption will be eradicated in the country when President Tinubu’s reforms are fully implemented.