Senate Suspends Action on Tax Reforms Bills.

 

                                                By Vivian Saleh Kindly Share...

The Senate has suspended action on the Tax Reforms Bills, Media reports.

The Senate further instructed its Committee on Finance to stay action on the public hearing pending the time the agitation in the public space was addressed.

It further constituted a special committee to meet with the executive arm and work with the Federal Government to resolve the issues surrounding the Tax Reform Bills.

This was made known by the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, who presided during plenary on Wednesday.

There has been controversy over the Tax Reform Bills since its introduction to the National Assembly.

The bills are Tax Reform Bills comprising the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill, 2024; Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, 2024; Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, 2024 and Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024.

The northern Governors rejected the bills outright, describing them as anti-democracy.

Following this, the National Economic Council, Nigeria’s highest economic advisory body, requested that the tax reforms bill be withdrawn from the NASS for more consultations.

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, announced the council’s position after its 144th meeting chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the State House, Abuja.

Makinde said council members agreed that the bill be withdrawn as some sections of the country are uncomfortable with some of its sections. He said this would allow for consensus building and understanding.

Following the various controversies that greeted the bills, the Senate on Wednesday invited the president’s Economic team led by the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, alongside the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Tax, Zacchaeus Adedeji, Director General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, into plenary to explain the Tax Reform bills in detail to lawmakers.

After the interaction with the President’s economic team, the Senate passed the bill for a second reading and transmitted it to the Senate Committee on Finance.

After the passage of the bill, the Borno State Governor, Prof Babagana Zulum, accused Oyedele’s team of rushing the enactment of the tax reforms, alleging that the bills are accompanied by misconceptions that require deeper consultations.

“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 expunge some of the clauses that are inimical to Northern Nigeria. What we are saying is, give more time, let us do a deeper consultation to understand the nitty-gritty of this tax regime before passing it into law,” Zulum added during an interview with press.

Amidst the controversy, Senator Shehu Buba (APC, Bauchi South), in an interview with the British Broadcasting Service Hausa Service said northern Senators agreed to recall the Tax Reforms Bills.

He said, “These bills are complex and require thorough review by tax policy experts.”

He claimed that northern lawmakers strongly oppose the proposed “derivation” formula in the value-added tax distribution system, arguing that northern states would be unfairly impacted.

Also on Tuesday, the President instructed the judiciary to liaise with the legislative arm of government.

Speaking on the controversies, the Deputy Senate President noted that the delegation would meet on Thursday at the National Assembly to resolve all the issues that had caused the uproar.