Many Nigerians are already groaning under the weight of taxes and charges as well as an increase in prices of commodities occasioned by land border closure.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, said recently that the government had sent a Finance Bill to the National Assembly and the bill has several proposals
Besides the tax raise, the FG has also indicated that it will tax luxury goods and carbonated drinks, although the FG hasn’t said by how much.
The FG recently mandated the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to strictly implement Merchant Service Charge which would impose more charges on all point of sale (PoS) transactions.
The new policy covers every transaction that occurs on the PoS platform, rather than the previous regime where charges are allied on aggregate transactions.
Thus, for every PoS transaction of a thousand naira or more, a stamp duty of N50 will be collected.
Financial expert Dr. Vincent Nwani, Managing Consultant, RTC Advisory Ltd say the return of N50 stamp duty is capable of weakening the financial inclusion drive and financial development goal as a whole, especially within the environmental sphere of business activities which point to the enormous size of the informal market.