The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has dismissed recent reports suggesting a planned increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) from 7.5% to 10%.
In a statement issued on Monday, September 9, Arabinrin Aderonke, the technical assistant on broadcast media to the FIRS chairman, clarified that the federal government has no intention of raising VAT rates, emphasizing that the claims are false and misleading.
This statement aims to reassure Nigerians that there is no plan to add to their economic burden.
Aderonke emphasized that the FIRS and the Federal Ministry of Finance had not discussed any plans to increase VAT.
Aderonke urged Nigerians to disregard the reports, saying the federal government was working to fix the economy and improve citizens' livelihoods.
Legit. ng notes that the FIRS's statement was released amid the claim by former vice president Atiku Abubakar and the chieftain of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In a post on X on Sunday, September 8, Atiku spoke out against President Bola Tinubu's purported decision to raise the VAT rate from 7.5% to 10%, citing concerns that it would exacerbate the country's economic woes. Atiku argued that the move, combined with a recent fuel price hike, would deepen the domestic cost-of-living crisis and hinder Nigeria's already fragile economic growth.