Oyedele: New tax laws will target wealthy earners, not the poor

By : Oluyemi Ogunseyin

Date: 13 December 2025 9:43am WAT

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Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele

Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele

The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has reiterated that the new tax laws which will take effect from January 2026 will target wealthy earners, and not the poor.

Oyedele reaffirmed this on Friday during an interactive session with journalists in Lagos, explaining that the new tax laws will not hurt ordinary Nigerians, while he also dismissed the fear of bank debits.

He further reassured Nigerians that the new tax laws were designed to ease burdens on the citizens and not increase their problems.

“The new legislation, which would become effective from January 2026, would end a situation where the poor bear the tax burden, eliminate multiple nuisance levies, and ensure that 97 percent of small businesses pay zero corporate tax from next year,” Oyedele said.

Speaking further, the chairman of the tax reforms committee warned that widespread misinformation was fueling unnecessary fear.

According to him, many reforms from the input Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds on everyday purchases to exemptions for small businesses represent gains Nigerians are getting to know about.

“The top two percent of earners, not ordinary citizens, would bear the bulk of new obligations, while long-standing requirements like Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) for bank accounts are being misunderstood as new rules,” he said.

“The January 2026 rollout would be fair, technology-driven, and transparent, and as you can see, the government’s continuous engagement before and after the law’s passage shows a sincere commitment to smooth implementation and genuine reform.”

Continuing, Oyedele calmed growing concerns among the public that the Federal Government would start to deduct money directly from bank accounts once the new tax laws become effective, explaining that Nigeria’s Company Income Tax (CIT) rate, which has remained 30 per cent since 1996, would under the new framework be reduced to 25 per cent.

This, he attributed to the reform, which he insisted was aimed at boosting investment and modernising the tax system, while he clarified that more than 99 per cent of stock market investors would remain exempted from Capital Gains Tax (CGT), explaining that only the top 1 per cent, typically large institutional investors, would be liable, and even they can avoid the tax if they reinvest their gains back into the market.

“Let me be clear: nobody will debit your account. There is no scenario under the current laws or the upcoming ones where government can simply take money from you because they think you should pay more tax,” he said while addressing misconceptions about direct account debits from next year.

“As you all know that even in rare cases where taxpayers owe liabilities, the law requires a structured process involving notices, assessments, the right to dispute, and ultimately a court order.

“I have been involved in tax administration for nearly three decades, and I have never seen one instance where this power was used to take a single naira.”

On monitoring individuals, Oyedele explained: “The new tax law says that banks will report activities in accounts where an individual records transactions worth N25 million naira in a quarter, that is 100 million naira in a year. That is what government is monitoring and with that you will be required to have a Taxpayers Identification Number (TIN).”

On CIT, he noted: “Nigeria’s CIT rate has been 30 per cent for the past 30 years. The reduction to 25 per cent is part of broader reforms to close gaps, incentivise formalisation, and promote growth. Before you can even get to 25 per cent of your income as tax, you must be earning at least 20 million naira annually which is not a small amount anywhere in the world.”

Oyedele added that small businesses with annual turnover below 100 million naira will pay zero CIT, giving them a strong incentive to formalise operations, while on CGT, he stated that reforms were designed to encourage long-term investment while shielding small and retail investors.

“For the capital markets, we have exemption for everybody in the capital markets or shares. All investors are tax exempt in the capital markets, 99 per cent of them. The exemption is unconditional. If you sell not more than N150 million of shares in a year, and your gains are no more than N10 million, you are permanently exempted, no questions asked. That threshold covers more than 99 per cent of investors in the market,” he said.

“The remaining investors are less than one per cent, including pension funds they are also unconditionally exempted. That includes mutual funds, unconditionally exempt. Real Estate Investment Trusts, unconditionally exempt. So even the one per cent is now much less.

“Whatever is left of that one per cent, we now said to them, if you don’t want to pay CGT, please reinvest your proceeds. So when you sell N200 million worth of shares, Zenith, Dangote, Flour, reinvest it. Reinvest it, and the tax on the gain you made is permanently exempted.”

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