Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose on Sunday said the Federal Government should immediately stop the increase in Pay As You Earn, pension and National Housing Fund deductions from workers’ salaries.
In a press release issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said increasing tax on workers in this period of recession was the height of wickedness and inhumanity.
He said, “workers take-home pay can no longer take them home.”
“As a military Head of State, Buhari used force to deal with Nigerians, now as a civilian President, he is using economic recession to punish Nigerians and adding insult to injury by using inhuman taxes to reduce workers’ salaries.
“Buhari’s government increased petrol prices from N87 to N145 per litre, kerosene; diesel and gas price were increased, electricity tariff was increased, N50 stamp duty was imposed on bank customers, N65 levy was imposed on every withdrawal on ATM, various bank charges introduced, custom duties increased and now workers’ PAYE tax has been increased.
“I sympathise with the Federal Government’s workers who only got to know about reduction of their salaries when they got credit alert last month, but they should remember that I warned them.
“Workers are already facing hardships owing to the economic recession, which has caused exchange rate to rise to as much as N480 to $1. The implication of this is that the purchasing power of a worker that is earning say N100,000 per month has reduced to less than N50,000 per month, meaning that what such a worker bought at N10,000 this time last year is now at N25,000.”
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