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LAGOS STATE, Nigeria — President Bola Tinubu has said that there is no going back on the tax reforms bills.
He spoke during a media chat in Lagos on Monday.
According to him tax reforms were necessitated by the need to eliminate colonial-based assumptions in the nation’s tax environment.
The tax reforms bill in recent times have sparked controversy across the country, forcing the House of Representatives to suspend indefinitely the debate on the bills earlier fixed for December 3 following mounting pressure from the 19 northern states governors.
The planned debate was called off after 73 northern lawmakers kicked against the bills.
However, while the reforms have garnered support in the South as steps toward equitable resource distribution, but strong resistance in the North for fear of marginalisation.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu transmitted four tax reforms bills to the National Assembly for consideration following the recommendations of the Taiwo Oyedele-led Presidential Committee on Fiscal and Tax Reforms.
The bills include the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, which aims to provide the fiscal framework for taxation in the country, and the Tax Administration Bill, which will provide a clear and concise legal framework for all taxes in the country and reduce disputes.
Others are the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, expected to repeal the Federal Inland Revenue Service Act and establish the Nigeria Revenue Service as well as the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill, which will create a tax tribunal and a tax ombudsman.
The Northern Governors Forum, the umbrella body comprising the 19 governors of the region, kicked against the bill, particularly the Value Added Tax-sharing template.
However, the President stressed that tax reforms was pro-poor and aimed at widening the tax net, noting that it was typical for tax reforms to be accompanied by outcries.
He said, “Tax reform is here to say. We cannot just continue to do what we were doing yesteryears in today’s economy. We cannot retool this economy with the old broken tools. The essence of the tax reform is to eliminate colonial-based assumptions in our tax environment. Every tax situation without outcry is not a tax.
“You cannot satisfy uniformly the larger community of tax evaders. This tax reform is pro-poor; the vulnerable are not to pay taxes. All we are asking for is to widen the tax net and bake the cake larger so that we can share a larger meal.
“They will still ask for this consultation no matter how long I delay it. The hallmark of a good leader is the ability to do what you have to do at the time it has to be done. That is my philosophy.”
Speaking on the economic hardship which became intense due to the subsidy removal, the
President said he had no regret as it had become necessary.
He kicked against calls for the phased removal of subsidies, saying the nation was headed for financial disaster.
He said, "We were spending our future. We were spending our generations’ fortunes; we were not investing. We were just deceiving ourselves. That reform is necessary. I could see the smugglers fighting back; that doesn’t affect me. It affects smuggling. Why should you have expenditures that you don’t have revenue for? I don’t want to question people who have acquired limousine kind of vehicles on the road. We should teach management in all our programmes. We have to manage our resources within our means.
“There is no way that you give out fuel and allow all the neighbouring countries as Father Christmas. I don’t have any regret whatsoever in removing the subsidy. It is necessary. We cannot spend our future generations’ investments upfront.
“Phased removal is part of unnecessary fear. No matter how you cut it, you still have to meet the bills. So cut your coat strictly to your size. Management is the issue and we have no choice but to pull the hand brakes, otherwise, we are headed for slippery slopes and in such financial disaster, not just for us, but for our children and grandchildren. Where is the pathway for prosperity?”
