Nigeria has one of the highest company income tax rates globally which is a disincentive for business growth, Tax leader, PwC Nigeria, Taiwo Oyedele has said.
According to Oyedele, Nigeria is in the top 10 in the world, for highest income tax rate.
“We pay Company Income Tax, CIT 30 per cent, education tax, 2 per cent, whatever is left; we pay withholding tax of 10 per cent. If you add it together, it is more than 40 per cent already. If you now make a mistake of having a group and you say it’s a holding company, another 30 per cent. Who does that?” he said.
Nigeria has one of the highest company income tax rates globally which is a disincentive for business growth, Tax leader, PwC Nigeria, Taiwo Oyedele has said.
According to Oyedele, Nigeria is in the top 10 in the world, for highest income tax rate.
“We pay Company Income Tax, CIT 30 per cent, education tax, 2 per cent, whatever is left; we pay withholding tax of 10 per cent. If you add it together, it is more than 40 per cent already. If you now make a mistake of having a group and you say it’s a holding company, another 30 per cent. Who does that?” he said.
He also called on the authorities to change their thinking about taxation as current approach has only made compliance difficult.
He said: “Our thinking around taxation is completely upside down as a country. Nigeria does not seem to understand that you need to be prosperous so that you can pay tax. So, tax does not just fall from heaven.”
“As a government, I should help you make money so that you can pay me tax. It’s just common sense. Nigeria has a tax system that does not allow businesses to thrive, whether you are small or big,” he added.
He noted that “the reason Nigeria cannot make money from tax, and is not a curse, is that it continues to beat up the people at the bottom of the ladder. But they cannot give you what they don’t have. In societies where they think things logically, they focus on the top 1% who are the rich and big companies and they will get the desired tax result,” he said.
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