- Says I Am Getting Good Support From My Colleagues To Throw Out The Bills
- Let People Live First Before You Start Asking For Taxes-Ndume
- Tax Reform Bills Not North Vs South Issue-FIRS Official Fires
The proposed tax reform bills proposed by the resident Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration before the National Assembly has been described as dead on arrival by fiery Borno South Senator, Ali Ndume.
This is even as he disclosed that he has been campaigning against the bills among his colleagues and he is getting good support to throw out the bills.
The Matrix reports that on October 3, President Bola Tinubu had asked the national assembly to consider and pass four tax reform bills, a development that has triggered outrage and condemnation.
The proposed laws include the Nigeria tax bill, tax administration bill, and the joint revenue board establishment bill.
Reacting to the development, the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF), representing 19 northern states, collectively opposed the proposed bills, following a joint meeting with the northern traditional rulers’ council at the Kaduna government house on October 28.
The governors asked the national assembly to reject any legislation that may harm the region’s interests, calling for equitable and fair implementation of national policies and programmes to prevent marginalisation of any geopolitical zone.
Responding to the Northern govs in a statement, presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, said the new proposal, as enunciated in the bill, is designed to create a fairer system that will benefit all states.
Consequently, the National Economic Council (NEC) asked President Bola Tinubu to withdraw the bills from the national assembly to give room for wider consultations.
Reacting to the ruckus, Ndume said the President should listen to the National Economic Council (NEC) and the Northern Governors’ Forum and immediately withdraw the bills.
“If it goes on like that, I can tell you that it will be dead on arrival. We don’t need to study the bills,” the unsparingly blunt lawmaker known for his unconventional stance on national issues said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday.
Ndume, one of the longest lawmakers in the National Assembly, said the Federal Government should be looking at ways to reduce the tax burden on Nigerians and not increase it.
“The general thing is that Nigerians are not willing to talk about or pay any tax now considering the (economic) situation we are in now,” he said.
“Nigerians are willing to pay taxes but they can only pay taxes when they can afford it. Right now, people are struggling to survive. Let people live first before you start asking them for taxes,” he added.
The senator said “it will be fair to shut the bill down, it is the fairest thing to do”, indicating that he has started campaigning against the bills among his colleagues and he is getting good support to throw out the bills.
Ndume, who is in the President’s party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), said the Tinubu administration needs to reform itself and not increase taxes paid by Nigerians.
He said, “What he (Tinubu) needs to do is to withdraw the bill, educate Nigerians and make us understand it. We are representing the people and the people that we are representing have already spoken.
“The governors, the traditional rulers have said that the bill is not good. So, the best thing to do is to immediately withdraw it.
“Right now, what our people are saying is that they don’t want VAT bill, they don’t even want to hear about it. That is why we are going to make it dead on arrival.”
Meanwhile, an official of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mathew Gbonjubola, says the controversial tax reform bills of the current administration should be made a north versus south issue.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, the FIRS Coordinating Director of Compliance and Enforcement Group said many Nigerians are ignorant of the bills.
“I don’t think we should make this a north versus south or east versus west issue,” he said. “A lot of people who are commenting on those bills have not even read them.”
“Some of the arguments that are coming out are actually inaccurate. Many people base their commentaries on hearsay.”
