TUC’s Osifo explains labour kicked against tax reform bills

The President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr. Festus Osifo, has explained why organised labour kicked against the proposed tax bills by the Federal Government.

Osifo, who spoke at the 2025 May Day celebration in Abuja, said the bills imposed heavy burdens on workers while sparing the wealthy and corporate elites.

He described the bills as “anti-worker.”

Osifo said: “The tax proposals were drafted without the involvement of workers.

“They impose heavy burdens on our meager allowances —housing, transport, and even medical benefits, yet fail to promote a progressive taxation system that ensures the rich pay their fair share.”

Specifically, the TUC president decried the plan to peg the minimum taxable income at N800,000 per annum, saying the figure was only marginally below the newly agreed National Minimum Wage of N840,000 annually (N70,000 monthly).

“How can you tax someone earning approximately the cost of just eight bags of 50kg rice in a year?

“This policy shows insensitivity to the plight of Nigerian workers amid soaring inflation and economic hardship,” he added.

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He criticised the proposed expansion of the Value Added Tax (VAT) on essential goods and the introduction of new levies, warning that such measures would escalate the cost of living and disproportionately affect the poor.

The TUC president also highlighted the pressures faced by the informal sector and alleged that small-scale traders and artisans would be subjected to presumptive taxation and excessive compliance costs.

“We demand the immediate withdrawal of the anti-worker tax bill.

“Nigeria needs a fair and inclusive tax system, one that exempts essential goods from VAT and provides real support to the informal sector,” he stated.

Osifo called for urgent reforms in the electoral system to address what he described as “a crisis of political legitimacy in Nigeria.”

He urged President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly to initiate a broad-based and inclusive electoral reform process in the country.

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