2026 in Nigeria: Surviving on Salary or Paying It All Back in Taxes?

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January 2026 is almost here and as a Nigerian, life is really leading us because we are in on a long ride and most people aren't informed yet, even though with the lack of employment, low salary, increase in prices of goods, the government are planning or should I say "Already planned" to add taxes to the situation on ground and this time around, you can't escape it because it is mandatory or you will face the music. When I heard about it, I though it was a joke or fake rumour until I read and confirm it online, the country isn't joking at all and at some point, we might be force to ask that big questions, what are they using all this money for because we rarely see any developments and the level of insecurity keep increasing day by day.

The first tax I saw was the Income Tax which is for every individuals and they also have the one for companies or businesses. For individuals, as long as you are earning upto 800,001 Naira, it is compulsory to pay 15% income tax but anything lesser than 800k won't be paying any task, anything above 3million to 12m will pay 18%, then from 12m to 25m will pay 21% etc, any business making above 25million yearly will pay 30% as income tax. I was like oh wow, and in one video, someone analyse how you can easily evade this new tax law and I just laugh because I know my country, they always know how to find quick solution to things, someone suggested cryptocurrency and other forms but honestly, there is no way you will make use of crypto without using local banks in Nigeria because not everyone knows or use cryptocurrency in their day to day activities so at some point, you will need fiat.

This new tax law make it compulsory that everyone using a bank account (new or existing account) will have to register for a tax ID which will be use in monitoring what is coming in and out, even every side businesses can't escape this, even all digital assets, NFTs etc are classified as properties and will also be taxed (your profits and all), looking forward to how they will be able to do this digital assets part. This night, I saw this tweet from Naija_PR on X

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Government planing to tax Nigerian 500 on every 10k fuel consumption, if this is true, then we are really info it, everyone in the comment section keep laughing (joking) about it while some said instead of getting 10k fuel, they will rather get 9500 so they won't be paying extra 500 as tax. 2026 is already scaring somebody's son, seem like we will just keep extending 2025 and in addition, they are planning to increase V.A.T from 7.5% to either 12 or 15% next year too. Seem like all what we will be earning next year, will be use as tax.