We can’t tax our way out of economic impasse, Atiku tells Tinubu

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has replied the Presidency that the country cannot tax its way out of the prevailing situation.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the last election also noted that “numerous nations, such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Monaco (an EU territory with a zero-income tax policy), among many others, have emerged as economic powerhouses by fostering growth through lower taxation.”

Atiku was responding to the presidency which stated that his (Atiku) alternative reforms were not tested and was rejected by Nigerians during the election.

The PDP candidate had earlier alleged that the present administration was involved a trial and error economic reform, saying that the move was responsible for the current hardship in the country.

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But Atiku, who fired back yesterday, insisted that the federal government was “fixated on inflicting further hardship upon an already struggling populace.

He emphasised that the “citizens who cast their votes in the 2023 presidential election are well aware that I did not lose; rather, we find ourselves in this predicament because the election was criminally stolen from the Nigerian people.”

The former Vice President said he was forced to engage in the “debate on these critical matters” because of his hope that “this discourse will ultimately benefit Nigeria and its citizens”.

Atiku also said the average GDP rate under the Obasanjo administration that he “served in was 6.59% and peaked at 15% in 2002; 7.98% under the late Yar’Adua administration and 4.8% under Jonathan compared to the dismal 2.8% of the so-called “tested” Tinubu era.”