Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown that taxes paid by manufacturers to the Federal Government rose by 60 per cent to N839.6 in 2022 from N524 billion recorded in the previous year.

According to the data, manufacturing company income tax rose significantly in 2022 to N468.59 compared with N235 billion in the corresponding period in the previous year, while VAT collected from the sector rose to N477. 43 billion from N288.4 billion in 2021.

The increase in taxes by the sector comes amid several calls by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria for the government to reduce the taxes being collected from manufacturing firms to alleviate the impact of the economic downturn on them.

One major development tax-wise that plagued the productive sector last year was the introduction of an excise duty of N10 per litre on all non-alcoholic, carbonated and sweetened beverages in the country.

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, while making the disclosure said that the new sugar tax was introduced to raise excise duties and revenues for health-related and other critical expenditures in line with the 2022 budget priorities.

Consequently, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and economic experts had warned that a new tax imposed on carbonated drinks would be counter-productive.