Forthcoming tax reforms in Africa’s top oil producer could exclude as much as a third of the country’s working population from personal income tax, according to Nigeria’s tax czar.
A third of the working population in Nigeria currently earns 100,000 naira ($62) or less per month, according to Taiwo Oyedele, who heads a presidential committee that’s spent almost two years reviewing the country’s tax laws, reports Bloomberg. Those workers would be excluded from proposed changes to Nigeria’s tax laws, he said.
The changes aim to provide a broader tax base for the country’s government, which currently relies on proceeds from oil to fund more than half of government spending. The country’s tax take as a share of gross domestic product is one of the lowest in the world at about 11%.