The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, on Thursday called for a thorough debate of the contentious tax reform bills.
He made the call at a World Press Conference on the State of the Nation in Abuja.
The former Anambra State governor urged the Federal Government to make Nigeria a productive nation before taxing the people.
He said: “Everybody knows my stand on it. There should be very wide and detailed consultation. It should be widely and publicly debated. The government has consistently maintained that our tax-to-GDP rate is very low and I said it’s wrong.”
“Tax is a function of productivity; the country is unproductive so are you going to tax 100 million Nigerians that are living in extreme poverty? Are you going to tax those people I saw in IDP camps?”
“Tax is a function of productivity, when the country is productive and people are getting fully employed then you can tax and we can generate more tax. What we need now is to reflect on the country and make it productive and then we can talk about generating more revenue.”
“Let me assure you what is on the table now is that everybody who means well should come together to get the country to work.”
