The 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has maintained that the focus of reform should be on widening the tax net rather than increasing taxes on citizens who are already overburdened.
Speaking as a guest on Channels TV’s The Morning Brief on Monday, Sowore argued that Nigerians are already overstretched economically and should not be subjected to additional tax pressure.
“Anybody who taxes poverty will reap resistance, because Nigerians are just too poor right now,” Sowore said.
He criticised Nigeria’s new tax reforms, warning that policies that burden poor citizens will provoke public resistance.
“What I have always proposed is that we expand our tax base, not to increase taxes. We are not doing well in terms of how much taxes we are collecting. I think we are at 17 per cent, and a lot of countries around Africa are at about 20 per cent. It is that increase of how far we go that is important, not to tax people who are already overtaxed,” he said.
He added ” “You’ve heard that the tax regime that came into effect is not the one the National Assembly passed. A tax system that starts with fraud is not taxation; it is extortion”.
The Federal Government recently introduced four tax reform laws: the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025; the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025; the National Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025; and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, 2025.
