Kemi Adeosun: "You are supposed to pay taxes even if your means of income is begging", Finance minister says

According to her, beggars will be taxed because some of them make millions.

The ministry of finance has announced the government's intention to start taxing beggars.

This was revealed by Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, in Lagos state.

According to her, beggars will be taxed because some of them make millions.

She also revealed that 150 firms/individuals would be investigated by asset tracing-companies.

Adeosun said that the purpose of these companies is to investigate the tax payment status in order to expose tax defaulters.

She said: “You can register a high-end car. It tells me something about your income. So we look at your tax returns. If you registered Mercedes E-Class and you are paying N100,000 tax, then something is wrong. Those are red flags. We now have the capacity to assess people accurately

No one would be left out in the campaign to enlarge the tax net as the response being received so far showed that people are embracing the tax policy.

Some beggars are earning millions, and the government would even look at their lifestyles and tax them because even proceeds from begging are taxable. You are supposed to pay taxes even if your means of income is begging.

We are trying to build an economy where we have oil and other things. It is going to be oil plus and wider economy. Tax is a matter of law and Nigerians should continue to pay.

The resources will be used judiciously because when people pay taxes, they get involved. When people do not pay taxes, when you call for budget meetings, they will not come.

But when they pay their taxes, if the government says these are the projects we want to execute on the budget, people will show up because they have contributed to the tax revenues."

BVN, records of property ownership, records of foreign exchange allocation, records of company ownership from the CAC, and others will be used to find out the income status of companies/individuals.

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