The Red Chamber passed the four tax bills for second reading through voice votes.
President Tinubu Bola transmitted the four tax reform bills to the National Assembly for consideration on October 3.
The move steered up controversy, with the Northern Lead Representatives and various stakeholders kicking against the tax reforms. Stressed by the circumstance, the Presidency made sense of the fact that the bills were not targeted at any specific locale, rather to develop the country.
The Red Chamber passed through second reading a Bill for an Act to lay out the Joint Revenue Board, the Tax Appeal Tribunal, and the Office of the Tax Ombud as part of Tinubu’s comprehensive tax reform package. The proposed regulation seeks to harmonize, coordinate, and resolve disputes emerging from revenue administration in Nigeria.
The session saw lawmakers looking into the general principles of the tax reform bills. Earlier, the Red Chamber had gone into a closed-door session to examine the four bills transmitted by President Tinubu on September 3, 2024, following the suggestions of the Taiwo Oyedele-led Tax Reforms Committee.
While the changes were for the most part recognized as crucial to overhauling Nigeria’s tax system and diminishing the tax burden on citizens, Sen. Ali Ndume communicated misgivings about the timing and a few provisions of the bill.
He proposed that the reforms, with fundamentals amendments, could be passed “in less than 24 hours” whenever withdrawn and once again introduced.
Be that as it may, the Chief Whip firmly went against this view, accentuating the significance of propelling the bill to the public hearing stage.
“The bill should scale second reading and undergo thorough examination during the public hearing. Afterward, it can be subjected to clause-by-clause consideration.”
According to the only dissenting voice, Sen. Ali Ndume: “Reforms are necessary, I am not against any reforms. My problem is the timing as it is today in Nigeria as we say I want to add to what Senator Seraike said.
“One will be at the public hearing and the issue of derivation because the Constitution has to be amended before some of the proposals of the Bill can be affected.
“This bill should be withdrawn, we work on it and submit it after getting the buy-in of the Governors, Traditional Rulers and the NEC.
“I looked at the bill, and it contains so many but these two things, VAT and Derivation. You negotiate first before we come to take a position.
“It looks attractive, but it may not be what it is. If you move a tax burden to the manufacturer, he will transfer it to the consumer.
“In the bill, we say a reduction from 30% to 25% which means that the person in Nnewi that is no longer able to make Billions, you are charging him with the same person that is just sitting down doing Nothing.”
President Tinubu Bola transmitted the four tax reform bills to the National Assembly for consideration on October 3.
The bills are; the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, as most would consider to be normal to give the monetary structure of taxation in the nation, and the Tax Administration Bill, which will give an unmistakable and compact legal framework for all taxes in the nation and decrease disputes.
The others are; the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, which will repeal the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Act and establish the Nigeria Revenue Service, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill, which will create a tax tribunal and a tax ombudsman.
The president communicated that the bills would fortify Nigeria’s fiscal institutions and line up with his administration’s extensive development objectives.
