Families who earn N250.000 should not pay taxes – FG

The president of the presidential committee for tax policy and tax reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, states that pursuant to new tax laws, Nigerian families who earn N250,000 or less per month should be exempt from personal taxes.

He spoke of “Politics Today”, a television program of the channels, Thursday, a few hours after President Bola Tinubu has taken four new tax bills.

According to him, the objectives of the new laws, which would have had an effect since January 2026, were not intended to increase taxes but to stimulate the economic activity in the country and keep track of tax evaders

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Oyedele said that the new laws would also protect companies and ensure that the government did not tax poverty, adding that the new laws are guided by efficiency, focused on growth and focused on people.

“This tax law will not give you money in your pocket, but at least it won’t take off your money if you are poor,” he said.

He interrogated what his committee described as a poor family, Oyedele said he had “devised a N120,000 or N130.000 for two people who work in a family of five”.

“If the earnings are about N250,000, they can take care of themselves. Of course, they will not have luxury, but at least they can take care of themselves. They are poor and should not pay taxes.”

The tax boss said that the tax law will not put money into his pocket, but at least “he will not eliminate anything if you are poor”.

“We eliminated the tax component for people basically, we reduced it for people in the middle and we slightly increased for people at the top,” he added.

He said that while low -income earnings will be completely free, medium -income families, earning about n1.8 million and N2 million per month, will see lower tax rates and the best earnings, those that produce N2 million and above the month, will contribute slightly more.

He said that people who earn N2 million and above the month are less than 5 percent of all workers.

He said he came to a decision, his committee discussed the poverty threshold of an average Nigerian.

Oyedele said: “We discussed this question; we said: ‘Who is a poor person in Nigeria?

“Firstly, we started with data such as the World Bank and the United Nations will tell you two dollars, fifteen cents a day per person means that you are on the poverty line but there are people who do not earn two dollars a day but they are not poor because they produce the food they eat and do not pay for transport. I lived and raised in the village.

“So, we had to take it into account. We designed our line (poverty) for Nigeria on the basis of an average of five people per family: two people who work if they are lucky, taking care of the five.”