TheCable

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said its opponent, the All Progressives Congress (APC), will “impose a cruel tax regime” on Nigerians should it come to power.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Olisa Metuh, national publicity secretary of the PDP, stated that the main opposition party had no feasible plan of how to fulfill all the promises it had made to Nigerians.

Metuh asserted that the manifesto of the APC was couched in deceit and falsehood, and berated the party for what its “unfortunate political streak sustained by lies, character assassination, false alarm and wild allegations”.

“The APC, in one of its phantom promises, said that it would pay a stipend of N5, 000 each to 25 million poor Nigerians monthly.  This gives a total of N125 billion each month and N1.5 trillion every year,” he said.

“What is baffling is that the APC knows full well that this is not only unrealistic but also impracticable in a nation with an estimated budget of N4.69 trillion comprising recurrent and capital expenditures, yet they continue to dish it out to unsuspecting citizens in a clear bid to mislead.

“Also, the deceitful tendency of the APC came to light in its promise to create 740, 000 direct jobs in each of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT within one year, while on the other hand promising to create 1 million jobs for Igbo youths also within the same period. We ask,
which do we believe?

“The APC has also promised to provide free education, daily free meals for millions of Nigerian school children, free tertiary education, free healthcare and free houses to Nigerians. The opposition knows too well that this is unrealistic yet they prefer to brandish falsehood.

“The APC should explain to Nigerians how they would fulfill their promises with the prevailing 40% drop in national income and dwindling oil price in the international market. These promises are therefore either bogus or part of their plot to subject the citizens to a harsh tax regime ostensibly to finance Bourdilon Drive and other personal interests, the real reason they desperately seek power.

“We therefore challenge the APC to come forward and admit before Nigerians that these promises are false and merely deceitful if not they should be bold enough to tell Nigerians that they are planning to skyrocket our personal income and company taxes if they ever get to power.”

Conversely, Metuh posits that under the PDP-led administration, company tax is a maximum of 30 percent of the profit, whereas personal income tax hovers from 1 percent for minimum wage earners to a maximum of 19 percent for Nigerians earning up to N100 million.

“Can Nigerians afford a tax regime of 45 percent company tax and 32 percent personal income tax? Whilst we note the multiple tax regime in APC states like Lagos state, we believe that Nigerians are not ready to bear the brunt of APC’s harsh tax policy,” he said.

“If on the other hand the APC decides to deny the planned imposition of a harsh tax regime, then they must accept they are guilty of fake campaign promises and deceitful manifesto.

“It is indeed obvious that the APC has no intentions of pursuing, let alone fulfilling any of their bogus promises. It is either they are merely taking the nation for a ride or seek to use the promises as a pedestal to impose a cruel tax regime and exploit Nigerians. Any which way, it is a campaign based on deceit.”