The former Vice President of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has suggested a tax based economy will help tackle recession.
This was after it was confirmed that for the second time in five years, Nigeria has entered into another recession.
In his words, he said “If we keep borrowing, we stand the risk of defaulting and that will make recession a child’s play, because we will lose some of our sovereignty.The more we borrow ,the more we will need cash to make interest and principal payments, and the lesser cash we will have to make necessary investments in our economy and our people.
It is inhumane for us as a nation to increase the cost of goods and services that affect the poor, while keeping the cost of luxuries fairly stable. He further propose that 1% of the poverty alleviation tax should be legislated by the National Assembly on the profits of every international oil company operating in Nigeria.
A practical approach to this is to place a 15% tax on all business and first class tickets sold to and from Nigeria, on all luxury car imports and sales, on all private jets imports and service charges, on all jewellery imports and sales, and international airlines doing business in Nigeria, which should also go towards the proposed Poverty Eradication Fund.
The statement was released via his Twitter page this morning.
