Income Earned By ‘Runs Girls’ Taxable – Taiwo Oyedele

The  Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has disclosed that all income earned in Nigeria, including money made by ‘runs girls,’ is taxable under the law.
Oyedele made this disclosure in a now-viral video from a tax education session by the Redeemed Christian Church of God, City of David, Lagos.
According to him, Oyedele, upkeep money sent to dependants or relatives is not taxable, describing such transfers as “non-exchange transactions.
“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,” he said.
Oyedelele, who however, stressed that once payment is made for a service or product, the law requires taxation—regardless of whether the activity itself is legitimate, added that , “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 it.
“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.
“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,” Oyedele said