As businesses grapple with rising operational costs and shrinking profit margins, investors have renewed calls to abolish the multiplicity of taxes currently crippling businesses of listed firms, especially the 30 per cent company income tax and 10 per cent withholding tax on dividends.
According to them, the 30 per cent CIT, 10 per cent withholding tax, 7.5 per cent of value-added tax , and 10 per cent capital gains tax not only undermine efforts by capital market regulators to woo more companies to list their shares in the market but also a major factor that triggers delisting of firms from the exchange.
He disclosed that out of the 15 FMCGs listed on the NGX consumer index, only seven managed to distribute dividends in the 2023 financial year while prospects for 2024 remained gloomy. “The burden of multiple taxation is increasing the cost of goods and services and killing businesses. It is also contributing to unemployment as businesses cannot reinvest to expand capacity and employ more people,” he stated.
As businesses grapple with rising operational costs and shrinking profit margins, investors have renewed calls to abolish the multiplicity of taxes currently crippling businesses of listed firms, especially the 30 per cent company income tax and 10 per cent withholding tax on dividends.