We don’t intend to scrap NASENI, TETFUND – says Oyedele

Taiwo Oyedele, chairman, Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, has clarified that the committee has not proposed that the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund be scrapped.

Rather, the committee has proposed that the multiple-taxation system caused by these agencies, be collapsed into a few taxes with single digits.

“We are not scrapping NASENI and TETFUND. We agree that Nigerian businesses have to bear too many taxes, over 60, which is stunting their growth. So one of the objectives of this reform is to harmonise this with single-digit few number taxes, and we identified TETFUND, NASENI and a few others, and consolidated them into one,” he said.

He further stated that by 2025, these agencies will share out of the 4 percent development levy provided for government agencies. However, by 2030, they will be funded through budgetary allocations.

“By 2030, they will no longer share a special tax, because the government cannot collect Company Income Tax, VAT, Stamp Duty, and then introduce new taxes for areas they want to develop.”

“All over the world, governments collect taxes and determine their priorities at a time. Let those agencies be funded through budgetary allocations, not new taxes,” he added.

Read also: Tax reforms will ensure equity, fairness in revenue collection, disbursement – Oyedele

He also stated that the committee does not intend to merge the revenue collection agencies, but rather harmonise the tax collection system to allow these agencies to focus on their primary objectives.

“We don’t intend to merge any agencies, but we will use technology to integrate the collection system. If I import this phone today, I’ll under-declare it because I don’t want to pay import duties, but I’ll over-declare to FIRS because I want to get a tax deduction; Many Nigerians are doing this, and getting away with it.”

Let’s integrate the system to stop people taking advantage of the loophole in the information asymmetry, so the FIRS has the capacity to streamline the process,” he added.