New Tax Law ‘ll Threaten Farming Activities, Markets, Indigent populace; ADP Warns

 

 

The Action Democratic Party, ADP, has expressed grave concern over the planned implementation of the new Tax Law, warning that it poses a serious economic, social, and moral threat to millions of Nigerians, particularly farmers, traders, widows, and orphans in the society.

The party also, stated that this is not merely a fiscal issue, but a question of survival for the poorest and most vulnerable citizens of the country.

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National Chairman of the party, Engr Yabagi Yusuf Sani stated in Abuja on Monday that farming would be at risk, as the country’s agricultural sector is sustained, largely by smallholder farmers.

“Farming would be at Risk, Nigeria’s agricultural sector is sustained largely by smallholder farmers operating on extremely fragile margins. Any tax imposed on fertilizer, seeds, fuel, or other farm inputs will immediately raise production costs beyond the reach of most farmers.

“The predictable consequences include reduced or abandoned cultivation, sharp declines in crop yields, food shortages, and rising food prices nationwide. The Action Democratic Party emphasizes that taxing fertilizer and farm inputs amounts to taxing food security and survival,” Engr Yabagi warns.

The ADP National Chairman further stressed that markets will face total collapse, warning that Valued Added Tax, VAT, derivation and consumption, based taxation will force traders to increase prices in order to stay afloat.

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“This will reduce purchasing power, collapse small and informal businesses, lead to closure of market stalls and shops, and trigger job losses across the supply chain.”

According to ADP, a tax system that ignores the purchasing power of citizens does not grow the economy, but suffocates it.

The party also noted that orphans and the most vulnerable in the society will be the silent victims, pointing that, “orphans do not pay taxes directly but suffer the harshest consequences of economic pressure.

“As families and caregivers struggle with rising living costs, daily meals become unaffordable, community charity declines, humanitarian organizations are overstretched, and child hunger, school dropouts, street begging, and child labor, increases.”

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The party further noted that when the economy is strangled, orphans are the first to starve, thereby, calling for Immediate Action.

“We are calling for immediate review, suspension, and restructuring of any tax policy that places unbearable burdens on the poor. Taxation must never become an instrument of oppression. When farming collapses, food disappears.

“When markets collapse, livelihoods vanish, when families collapse, orphans suffer. Nigeria must not balance its books by breaking its people,” Engr Sani admonishes.

Eliminating this burden, Oyedele said, represents a major structural relief for the industry.

On VAT, the fiscal policy chair clarified that the temporary suspension introduced in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, while attractive on the surface, had hidden costs.