Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, who represents the Ebonyi North Senatorial District in southeast Nigeria, has praised President Tinubu’s new tax reform policy.
Nwebonyi, the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, said the new tax policy was designed to shift the tax burden from the poor to the rich, adding that in the current arrangement, even the local market woman pays taxes for buying a bag of our locally processed garri.
“The tax reform policy of President Tinubu’s administration will pay off. It would be the greatest achievement of this government, because it is going to define the gap between the poor and the rich, by shifting the tax burden to the rich. These village women you see, are paying produce as well for buying vegetables not up to one thousand naira,” he lamented.
Senator Nwebonyi further acknowledged that the intention of the president is to stop labouring petty traders and shift tax payments to large-scale business owners in the country.
According to him, “The tax reform policy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is going to be a landmark achievement for Nigerians, and I urge our people to receive it. Two things impress me in that tax reform. The reform is going to shift the tax burden from the poor to the rich.”
Continuing, he said, “You will also agree with me that if you go to my village market now people are paying produce for buying bags of garri and village women are paying produce for vegetables that are less than one thousand naira, but what the president is doing is to stop taxing such small businesses and move it to big business owners.”
The lawmaker also posited that the new tax policy will be clear on the items that are for luxury and the ones that are necessity.
He said, “If you want to drink beer, for instance, VAT should be increased because that is luxury. If you want to buy a car, they should increase your VAT, because you are a big man. But if you want to buy garri, then you should not pay tax.”
Senator Nwebonyi said the new tax reform policy will also encourage competition among various states in the country because according to him, it will boost economic activities and attract more allocations from the Federation Account.
Voice Of Nigeria reports that the lawmaker at the event, distributed gift items ranging from minibuses, tricycles, motorcycles, and grinding machines to empower thousands of people from his constituency.
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