Senator Adams Oshiomhole has expressed his support for President Bola Tinubu’s new tax policy, insisting that the values are in tandem with principles of a progressive government.
The Senator representing Edo North Senatorial District
disclosed this on Wednesday’s Channels Television’s Politics Today said the Tinubu tax policy is progressive because it shifts the tax burden from the poor to the rich in Nigeria.
“The facts on the ground show that President Tinubu’s tax policy is consistent with the values of a progressive government,” Oshiomhole stated that no government can function without taxes.
According to him, “This is a progressive tax policy that places a higher burden on those who earn more while offering tax exemptions to those who earn less.
“It is only in Nigeria that people talk about government using money or claim that government earns money on its own. Governments do not earn money; citizens earn income, and the government taxes those earnings—whether individual or corporate. The sum of these taxes determines the annual revenue of the state,” the former Governor of Edo State said working families will benefit under the new tax regime.
“There is no worker who is a member of the Nigeria Labour Congress earning N1 million a month, which totals N12 million a year. So, for salary earners, this tax policy is progressive”.
Commenting on ongoing debates on Value Added Tax (VAT), Oshiomhole said average Nigerian worker need not worry, as VAT primarily affects luxury purchases.
Criticizing Nigerians who pay VAT abroad but complain when paying the same tax in Nigeria, the Senator said, “Everywhere in the world, when you buy non-food items, you pay VAT.
Nigerians pay VAT in America, London, Dubai, yet they resist paying VAT here in Nigeria,” Oshiomhole said while responding to criticisms regarding the 2025 new tax laws, which President Tinubu had promised to begins its enforcement on January 1, 2026.
