President of Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) Samuel Agbeluyi, has said the government should exempt those earning N100,000 and below from paying tax.
Agbeluyi stated this while speaking to journalists during the Personality lecture in honour of the 1st Female CITN President, Mrs Adebimpe Balogun, organised by the Society of Women in Taxation (SWIT) held in Abuja on Monday.
Agbeluyi said: “I am looking at allowing the poor to breathe. As we currently have in the Personal Income Tax 2004 Act, it exempt people collecting 30,000 from payment of taxes. But if we consider the inflation that has happened between that time and now, my personal opinion is that I believe anyone earning one hundred thousand naira (N100,000) and below should be exempted from paying tax.”
In her paper presentation, titled ‘Zero Income Tax: A case for Social Responsibility Taxation’, the honouree, Mrs Adebimpe Balogun, said a zero income tax regime refers to a tax regime in which individuals and households are not required to pay taxes on their income.”Instead of taxing personal income, governments may rely on other sources of revenue such as consumption taxes,property taxes, corporate taxes and other forms of Taxation.”
Balogun said the idea being proposed is for state governments to consider a tax holiday for the low and middle-income population of the state to use in alleviating the impact of the current economy on them.
The National President of the Society of Women in Taxation (SWIT) Mrs Bosede Ikhanoba, said there should be re-distribution of tax income collected from the rich to help the poor.
“When you go to the market, you see women selling pepper,petty items and the artisans.They make a lot of efforts to make a living,these are the categories we are advocating for the government to help reduce their tax burden.” Ikhanoba said.
