Peter Obi Demands Thorough Debate On Tax Reform Bills

The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi has called for a thorough debate of the contentious tax reform bills.

This is even as he argued that tax should be a function of production, and if the majority of Nigerians live in poverty, the government must first make Nigeria a productive nation before taxing the people.

Obi made this known in a World Press Conference on the State of the Nation on Thursday, January 2, 2025.

“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.

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“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” he enthused.