PUNCH
The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, has stated that the need to pass the Tax Reforms Bills is “urgent” because most Nigerians are struggling.
Oyedele made this statement during an Arise News interview, monitored by our correspondent, on Wednesday, in response to comments made by Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, regarding the proposed bills currently before the National Assembly.
He also stated that the proposed 60 per cent derivation is the only way to promote more equity in the sharing of VAT while encouraging economic activities across Nigeria.
Zulum had recently accused Oyedele’s team of rushing the enactment of the tax reforms, claiming that the bills are accompanied by misconceptions that require further consultation.
“On this tax issue, there are a lot of misconceptions. We felt that the VAT provision in the tax law, based on the calculations we did, would only benefit Lagos and Rivers States. We did our research and concluded that we would lose,” Zulum said.
“Why are we in a rush? We advised the Federal Government to take a pause and remove some of the clauses that are detrimental to Northern Nigeria. What we are saying is, give more time, let us do deeper consultations to understand the details of this tax regime before passing it into law,” Zulum added during an interview on Channels Television.
In response, Oyedele denied rushing the bills, adding that everyone, including the governor, “needs to acknowledge that we are at a stage where the majority of our people are struggling and living in multi-dimensional poverty.”
He pointed out that small businesses are dealing with over 60 official levies and taxes, as well as more than 200 unofficial ones, while many people are struggling to feed themselves due to escalating food inflation.
“Our small businesses are burdened with over 60 official levies, taxes, and more than 200 unofficial ones. We are struggling just to help people feed themselves because inflation is escalating.”
“We have people who don’t have decent jobs. That’s why the poverty rate is high, even though the unemployment rate is officially low. We are dealing with all these issues.”
“If you want to provide relief for your people, you should do it quickly because it’s urgent. It’s an emergency. The way we should respond to these issues should be similar to how the world responded to COVID-19.”
“There were countries where laws were passed within two days because it was an emergency. We are not even doing it in two days. We have been working on this for over a year,” he said.
Oyedele explained that his team had met with the governors in May, sharing drafts with them.
“We engaged with the governors, but you can imagine that if you manage to get airtime with them, they are unlikely to give you one or two hours. There was a particular meeting where we had only 15 minutes.”
“And I said jokingly to the governors that I don’t expect your excellencies to read all these details because we have also shared them with your technical staff.”
“But we have done all of that. The bills are now in the National Assembly. As we speak, the bills have been there for over a month. So, I don’t think that’s rushing it,” he said.
He added that there is no rush, as the bills are currently under scrutiny in the National Assembly, but emphasized that stakeholders should work to finalise the bills quickly so that relief can be provided to the Nigerian people.
“We are always happy to engage more, but we believe that what is happening now is healthy and good for our development because there is more attention on this issue, which provides an opportunity for further engagement.”
