Don't Tax New Minimum Wage, NLC Tells Govt

Don't Tax New Minimum Wage, NLC Tells Govt

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has demanded that tax laws should be waived for earners of income below N30,000.

This was one of the motions adopted at the NLC National Delegates' Conference in Abuja, on Wednesday.

The Union also expressed concern about the implementation of the new minimum wage, saying the process is taking too long.

The union called for plans that would speed up effective implementation of the new minimum wage, particularly at the state level.  

NLC also said pressure should be put on the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to raise the tax bar so that the N30,000 minimum wage would fall below taxable income.

Peter Ozo-Eson, General Secretary of the union, who appealed for the protection of the new wage, said the income tax law needed to be amended to protect workers' purchasing power.

He said: “Now that we have raised the minimum wage to N30,000 we must impress it on FIRS to raise the tax bar so that the new minimum wage will be protected. If you tax minimum wage of N30,000, we may as well go back to N25,000 or N27,000 by default. The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives raised the point and I think Labour must push the agenda to protect the new minimum wage

“Given that the N30,000 we agreed as a comprised minimum wage is so low, ideally, it should not be taxed, but I believe that the correct way to do it is to amend the income tax law in order to raise the exemption bar if the N30,000 will fall within.

"The law should be amended to ensure that the minimum wage level is below the taxable income. Under the present law, if you earn N18,000 a month, your tax is zero."
 

LABOR/WORKERS' RIGHTS

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Source: Don't Tax New Minimum Wage, NLC Tells Govt