NEC asks Tinubu to withdraw tax reform bills

The national economic council (NEC) has asked President Bola Tinubu to withdraw the tax reform bills from the national assembly to give room for consultations.

The council made the recommendation after its meeting on Thursday.

Speaking to state house correspondents after the meeting, Seyi Makinde, Oyo state governor, said the council members agreed that it was necessary to allow for consensus building and understanding of the bill among Nigerians.

“NEC today took a presentation from the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on fiscal policy and tax reforms. Their main focus is fair taxation, responsible borrowing and sustainable spending,” Makinde said.

He said the council acknowledged the country’s underperformance across all indices related to major revenue sources, including the tax-to-GDP ratio and other indicators.

“So after extensive deliberation, NEC noted the need for sufficient alignment between and amongst the stakeholders for the proposed reforms,” he added.

“So, Council therefore recommend the need to withdraw the bill currently before the National Assembly on tax reforms so that we can have wider consultations and also build consensus around these reforms for the benefit of the entire country, and also to give people…for them to know the vision and where we are moving the country in terms of a tax reform, because there’s really a lot of miscommunication, misinformation.

“So, the bill will draw from the National Assembly and then there will be consultations afterwards.”

On October 3, President Bola Tinubu had asked the national assembly to consider and pass four tax reform bills.

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.

The presidency had assured the Northern governors that the recently proposed tax laws will not increase the number of taxes.

In a statement on Thursday, Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, said the proposed laws were not proposed by Tinubu to disadvantage any part of the country as they were designed to improve lives of Nigerians and optimise existing tax frameworks.

He said the proposed reforms are intended to reduce the inefficiencies.

Onanuga said the current tax administration lacks coordination among federal, state, and local tax authorities, and often results in overlapping responsibilities, confusion, and inefficiency.