Nigeria House of Representatives pass Tinubu tax reform bills

Di House of Representatives don pass di tax reform bills wey President Bola Tinubu send to di National Assembly for October 2024.

Di bills wey di lawmakers pass on Tuesday na Nigeria Tax Bill, Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, and Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill.

Dem pass di bills afta dem read am for di third time at plenary, wey Speaker Abbas Tajudeen preside ova.

Last week Thursday, di lower chamber bin approve ogbonge amendments to di proposed legislation afta a clause-by-clause consideration of di bills, as presented by di Chairman, Committee on Finance, James Abiodun Faleke.

Di amendments wey dem approve bin address issues like inheritance tax, Value Added Tax (Vat) rate and distribution formula, and di clause on continuous funding of di Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Tetfund), National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (Naseni), and National Information Technology Development Agency (Nitda) from di development levies fund.

E dey expected say di Senate go also pass di bills in di coming days, and di proposed tax reform bills go dey transmitted to President Tinubu to assent to am.

Di tax reform bills bin face opposition from northern governors, wey argue say di region interest dey at stake.

However, for January, di Nigerian govnors bin endorse di tax reform bills, but dem bin propose new sharing formula for Vat.

Wetin fiscal and tax reforms dey about?

Chairman of di Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, say fiscal and tax reform for Nigeria dey complicated and dis dey prevent di economy from growing as e no dey produce di kain money wey e suppose for di kontri.

Di reason for dis complication na sake of say di policy wey dey guide am no clear and e no dey consistent.

Di tax laws don old and dem no clear, while di revenue administration dey weak and e scata all over di place.

Therefore, di main reason for dis reform be say, na to redesign di system so e go fit to support all di plenty challenges wey dey face growth for di kontri.

Some of di challenge include multiplicity or plenty orishirishi tax for one pesin or business head.

Di reform, according to di chairman, go reduce di tax burden on individuals and businesses while e dey also promote easy way to do business so dat di economy go grow and deliver shared prosperity for Nigerians.

Di main target of di reform include to reduce tax to single digit number, harmonise revenue administration to make am efficient, increase tax to GDP ratio, bring more competition enta di economy, plus remove tax from poor pipo.