The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Affairs, Jimoh Ibrahim, has accused rich people in Nigeria of tax underpayments.
Ibrahim currently represents Ondo South in the Senate.
He said this while contributing to a debate on the 2025-2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) during plenary on Wednesday.
The Senator noted that the fact that the rich generate employment, it’s incumbent on them to pay taxes on their luxurious assets.
“They (the rich) need to pay more. It is comfortable for them to pay. I know they say they generate employment, but they need to pay more on their luxury assets.
“This is the area we should develop. I am looking at laws that will actually police transactional cost.
“Government provides incentives for your business. What we are looking at is profit from your investment. The gross domestic product (GDP) to tax ratio is 18 per cent; about 72 per cent is left out of the tax net. We should be worried that 72 per cent (of taxable citizens) are not in the tax net.
“I am not saying we should go and tax the poor population, but the rich needs to do more in these difficult times,” Ibrahim told newsmen after the plenary.
