Majority of respondents to a recent Pulse Nigeria online poll, say they are being over-taxed by federal and state governments. 

Nigerians have been asked to pay taxes for online bank transactions, taxes have been imposed for using the Point Of Sale (POS) machine, there is a levy for inter-bank transactions, a new tax has been imposed on house rent, Value Added Tax (VAT) has been increased from 5% to 7.5% and there is a plan to tax logistics and courier firms.

All in the middle of a pandemic that has hit bank accounts and pockets hard.

In Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, cab-hailing companies have signed up to a new tax regime and there are taxes on radios, televisions and land.

ALSO READ: Nigeria is taxing its citizens way too much [Pulse Editorial]

In the week spanning August 17 to 21, we asked our audience on social media platforms Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to tell us if they now consider themselves victims of multiple taxation. 

On Twitter, 67.4% said they are paying too many taxes, 19.1% said they are fine with the taxes they are currently doling out to the state, while 13.4% said they are not sure if they are paying too many taxes.

On Instagram, 59% of respondents said they are over-taxed, while 41% said they have no complaints about current tax rates. 

On Facebook, 70% of respondents to the poll said they are paying too many taxes, with 30% happy to pay their current taxes. 

In the comments sections of our polls, the grouse was about accountability and transparency from the government in the usage of taxes. “If the taxes were being used wisely by the government, people won't be complaining,” wrote Olisa Adigwe. 

“If the taxes are better accounted for, we won’t be having this conversation,” said Tosin Adira. 

As Nigeria reels from the crash in the price of crude oil in the global market, the government is raising taxes and exploring more tax avenues in order to fund trillion Naira budgets and deliver on critical infrastructure. 

However, there have been complaints about the arbitrariness of the tax collection and the opacity and corruption that often accompanies tax disbursement or usage in Africa's biggest economy.