The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has condemned the decision by President Muhammadu Buhari and his officials to increase the Value Added Tax, VAT, from 5% to excruciating 7.2%.
The party which rejected the decision in totally, said Nigerians cannot bear such burden under the prevailing agonizing economic situation.
The party in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan described the decision as “anti-people, suppressive and further confirmed the Buhari Presidency as extremely exploitative, inconsiderate and absolutely insensitive to the sufferings it plunged Nigerians into in the last four years.”
The PDP further sstated that the decision to increase VAT on already impoverished citizens was in bad faith and cannot be justified under any guise.
The statement read thus, “Indeed, only an administration that does not have the mandate of the people can seek to adopt such oppressive stance against its citizens.
“President Buhari ought to be aware that an increase in VAT will worsen our decrepit economy and put more pressure on families and businesses as it will result in increase in costs of goods and services that have direct bearing on the welfare of the people.”
The PDP charged the President not to further punish Nigerians by imposing harsh tax regime to make up for its crass incompetence and lack of capacity to effectively harness and manage our resources to create wealth for the benefit of the people.
“It is even more painful that the Buhari Presidency cannot give account of the huge resources at its disposal, including the taxes it has been collecting in the last four years, most of which are frittered to service the wasteful lifestyle of the cabal at the Presidency and APC chieftains.”
The party said instead of foisting more tax burden on Nigerians, President Buhari should account for and recover the over N14 trillion oil money established to have been stolen under his watch in the last four years.
The party said it was disheartening that at the time Nigerians ought to be enjoying the economic recovery and empowerment blueprint set out by Atiku Abubakar, which included slashes in taxes and levies, they are rather faced with an unjustifiable and indefensible tax increase.
The PDP therefore urged the National Assembly to protect Nigerians and save the nation from collapse by rejecting the injurious decision by the Buhari Presidency.