…Adedeji says grey areas being cleared
The Senate panel addressing contentious issues in the tax reform bills said on Monday that consultations with stakeholders were progressing, with agreements being reached by stakeholders for harmonisation in the best interest of Nigerians.
Abba Morro, chairman of the panel shared this update following a closed-door meeting with members of the economic team at the National Assembly. Participants included Zach Adedeji, chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the Presidential Committee on Tax Reforms; Lateef Fagbemi, minister of justice and attorney-general of the federation (AGF); and various state commissioners.
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“We are in the process of evaluating the contending tendencies regarding the tax bill, we have agreed amongst ourselves that we must synthesize the whole processes to ensure that at the end of the day, we give to Nigerians what Nigerians want, and that is a law that serves the purpose of all Nigerians.
“That is where we are now and hopefully by the time we meet again, we will finalise and we will have some better story to tell”, Morro said.
The Senate in December set up a ten-man ad-hoc committee to address contentious areas in the four tax reform bills, including the Nigeria Tax Bill, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill.
The most contentious clause contained in section 77 of the proposed Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, 2024, the legislation proposes a new VAT sharing formula.
The proposed distribution is 10 percent to the Federal Government, 55 percent to states, and 35 percent to local government areas (LGAs).
Adedeji, speaking with journalists, expressed confidence that the bills would be passed, noting that consultations on the grey areas have been positive.
“Today, we have the framer of the law, the attorney-general, lawmakers and all of the operators. All those grey areas were discussed, identified and clarified
It’s just for us to continue the engagement and consultation which have been positive. So we are in the right direction and everything is going as planned”, he said.
“We are confident the bills will be passed because this is what the best for the country is. Even the senators that brought us together, if they don’t see the positive part of it, we will not be here.
This is the first working day of the year and we are here because we all know this is what is needed, which is the consensus. What we are doing now is just to make that change better for the greater number of people”, he added.
Adedeji said after the consultations, the Senate panel would submit its report and begin public hearing on the bills.
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