Private sector raises alarm over National Assembly’s move to raise company income tax

…urges Buhari to withhold assent to bill

JOSHUA BASSEY

Members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) have rejected the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Bill passed and sent to the presidency by the National Assembly, over what they described as “surreptitious insertion” of a provision imposing an additional 0.5% tax on company profits.

The OPS said the insertion of the additional tax in the bill by the National Assembly before sending it to the president for assent was an abuse of procedure, given that the tax clause was never a part of discussion during a public hearing on the bill.

Olusegun Oshinowo, the director-general of Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), who raised the alarm on the matter on Wednesday, said businesses were already overtaxed and that given the harsh environment, the needed a break from multiple taxes imposed on them.

“At the last count, we have over 55 taxes and levies of all sorts imposed on enterprises from the local government to the federal level. The question is how can businesses grow and create jobs under this draconian fiscal framework. The truth is that enterprises and businesses are being unwittingly strangulated by a hostile, unfriendly and very unreasonable tax and levy regime.”

The unfortunate thing is that the trend has continued, as evidenced from the recent Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Bill submitted by the National Assembly to the President for the latter’s assent. Some retrogressive forces have gone behind the stakeholders after the public hearing on the bill, to insert a 0.5% tax on companies to fund the establishment of a planned commission or agency that will undertake responsibilities under the law.”

Oshinowo said that while the private sector welcomed and supported the introduction of a dispensation where an institution would exist to promote fair, efficient and competitive markets in the Nigerian economy, at no time, during the public hearing on the bill, did they discuss the imposition of 0.5% profit after tax on companies operating in Nigeria, as a source of funding the commission.

“This provision was not contained in the draft bill that was exposed to the public. So, what could have been the source of this obnoxious provision that seeks to further drain life out of a struggling and comatose private sector that is still labouring under the unbearable weight of multiple and overlapping taxes and levies?

“ This surreptitious insertion is a fraudulent act which we seriously frown at. We do not support it. We will not accept it. If not removed, it may signify the death knell for this intended dispensation, as the private sector will not pay an unnecessary additional levy and tax. We implore government to fund this agency from the existing fiscal framework.”

The OPS, therefore, called on the president not to assent to the bill until the tax clause is expunged. “The bill should be sent back to the National Assembly for proper procedural compliance,” Oshinowo said.