President Bola Tinubu has to be warned against any attempts to further impoverish the poor by enacting additional levies or raising tax rates, according to former vice president Atiku Abubakar.

According to Atiku, the public was aware of the covert efforts to raise the VAT rate from 7.5% to 10%, reinstate telecom excise and raise the rates of excise on a number of other commodities.

As per the statement made by the PDP’s previous presidential candidate, “It needs to be restated that we cannot tax our way out of this situation.”

Atiku asserted in a statement released on Wednesday and acquired by Obasanjonews.com that Tinubu was unprepared for the consequences of the change.

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“Tinubu needs to be warned against attempting to further impoverish the populace by enacting new legislation or raising tax brackets.

We are aware of the covert efforts to raise the VAT rate from 7.5% to 10%, reinstate the telecommunications excise, and raise the rates of excise on a number of other commodities.

In order to lower the cost of governance, he stated, “Tinubu must recognise the need for expenditure rationalisation and restraint-by having the budget more in sync with Nigeria’s fiscal reality, by improving efficiency in revenue utilisation, by improving procurement processes, and by trimming the size of government.”