Taiwo Oyedele, the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Reforms, has revealed that the prices of goods and services are expected to start declining next year, following the implementation of Federal Government’s new Tax Policy Acts from January 1, 2026.
In an exclusive interview on the MicOn Podcast with Seun Okinbaloye, Oyedele explained how the reforms aim to widen the tax net, capture non-compliant taxpayers, and exempt low-income earners from paying taxes.
On the current state of compliance, Oyedele stated:
“Nigeria has over 200 million people. Based on employment data, about 86 million Nigerians are actively employed. You can argue how many of them can even afford to pay any tax in the tax nets across all 36 states and the FCT.
“The active number of taxpayers is less than 10 million. That math doesn’t add up. In any country in the world, developing, developed, or underdeveloped, you’d expect at least half of the employed population to be in the tax net. This means Nigeria has a long way to go to move from 10 million to around 40 million. When you go to businesses, the number is not much different.”
He further noted that most companies registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) are not paying taxes, thereby distorting the economy.
“You will see with the corporate affairs commission, over a million companies are registered, actively paying taxes, barely 100,000. If you don’t fix that problem, we continue to distort the economy where honest people struggle to survive.”
Explaining how the government plans to expand the tax net, Oyedele said:
“This is the whole essence of the intelligence we are trying to piece together. What happens in your bank account when you travel abroad, how you use your payment card, electricity for your phone, all that information. We’ve also introduced what we call fiscalization, which is when you issue an invoice for goods or services, the government gets a copy automatically.
“What we’re trying to do with that is instead of relying on people to be honest and patriotic to tell us their income. We want to use the system to find out. Your primary role is to declare your income yourself. Then the government, on the other hand, does a system ecosystem validation.”
Oyedele also cautioned against false declarations, noting that the reforms include measures to ensure compliance.
“If you claim you earned N1 million last year and bought a new car, travelled abroad twice in Business class and spent lavishly, the system will flag discrepancies. While minor mismatches are not pursued, undeclared amounts can result in automatic debit from your bank account after due notice.”
He stressed that the reforms aim to modernise tax collection:
“Taxes can now be collected professionally through technology. There’s no need to go on the street with wood and nails to start beating people up to collect taxes. There are very decent ways of doing that in modern society, and Nigeria should not be the exception.”
Addressing claims about high prices of goods and services in January 2026, Oyedele clarified that the reforms are designed to reduce costs:
“I don’t see any reason for prices to increase under this new tax law. If anything, prices should fall, or at worst, remain stable. These reforms are intended to stabilise the economy and tackle inflation. In reducing personal income tax, people will have more disposable income, lower costs of goods and services and increased affordability. Combined, this makes life more manageable for Nigerians.”
