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Despite the fact that commercial sex work is not recognised and the Nigerian constitution has not designated it as a profession, the Federal Government has said that all income earned in Nigeria, including money made by prostitutes (‘runs girls,’) is taxable under the law.
Punch Newspapers report that the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, stated this in a now-viral video from a tax education session by the Redeemed Christian Church of God, City of David, Lagos.
Oyedele explained that upkeep money sent to dependants or relatives is not taxable, describing such transfers as “non-exchange transactions.”
He said, “You earn a certain amount of money and you have to send upkeep to your cousin, your brother, even a stranger, it doesn’t really matter.
“If the amount you’re sending to someone is money you are giving to them as a gift, that’s not taxable. It is you that should have paid tax before giving them a gift.”
However, he stressed that once payment is made for a service or product, the law requires taxation—regardless of whether the activity itself is legitimate.
He added, “If somebody is doing runs girls, right, they go and look for men to sleep with, you know that’s a service, they will pay tax on
“One thing about the tax law is it does not separate between whether what you are doing is legitimate or not. It just asks you whether you have an income.
“Did you get it from rendering a service or providing a good? You pay tax.”
Oyedele, however, urged Nigerians to look at the broader context of the new reforms, which he described as the most far-reaching in the nation’s history.
He said, “The starting point for me is always to give context. And the first thing, the first message, is a proverbial blind man and an elephant.
“Depending on the side of the elephant that they touched, they concluded what it was, maybe a fan, a wall, or a tree. But none of them got the right answer because they didn’t feel the big picture.”
According to him, the same mistake could be made if citizens focus only on one aspect of the sweeping tax changes.
He added, “One thing I can tell you is that the tax reforms enacted into law a few months ago, that will take effect from January next year, is the most transformative, most significant in our nation’s history.
“With over 200 significant changes and more than 400 pages combined, it is very easy and could be tempting to narrow it down to one issue. That would be making the same mistake as the blind man and the elephant.”
The reforms, he said, would impact individuals, business owners, employees, employers, and civil servants, with the aim of simplifying the tax system and improving compliance.
However, analysts said that government cannot tax people on jobs that do not recognise. That prostitution will have to be recognised first before they will pay tax. They noted that part of government recognition is the legislation on their protection while they do their work, medical services channeled towards them because of the nature of work they do and government must stop the raids police carry out on them regularly.
“If you recognise the job they do and they pay you taxes from their earnings, why should you raid them. So, the raids must stop and their job must be respected; just as tailors, janitors, designers are recognised and respected.
“But this goes against the grains of morality, knowing that we are Africans, we are conservative and religious”, one of the analysts observed.
