Northern governors and senators are said to have opposed tax reformed bill sent by President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly for passage into law.
Members of the National Assembly are currently divided along regional lines over the Tax Reform Bills.
Recall that the President had, on September 3, transmitted four tax reform bills to the National Assembly for consideration.
The bills are the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, which is expected 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, which will repeal the Federal Inland Revenue Service Act and establish the Nigeria Revenue Service, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill, which will create a tax tribunal and a tax ombudsman.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has called on
the Northern governors and senators to focus their attention on economically liberating and empowering their peoples.
The rights group further appealed to Nigerian senators and House of Representatives members to engage in merit-based debates around the new tax reform bills so as to ascertain the long-term impacts, merits or demerits, rather the igniting ethnic and regional tensions over the matter.
“Those who oppose the bills should list out their reasons backed up by scientific body of evidence and with statistics and not on ethnic or regional sentiments,” the group said in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko.
HURIWA said the conversations around the proposed tax reform bills should not be reduced to convoluted political theatrics.
Reports revealed that the major burning issue around the debate is the proposed paradigm shift to a derivation-based model for Value Added Tax distribution, which would allocate tax revenue to the states where goods and services are consumed, rather than where companies have their headquarters.
The bills have been rejected outrightly by the 19 northern governors and traditional rulers based on unscientific reasons.
The governors, under the aegis of the Northern Governors’ Forum, rejected the new derivation-based model for VAT distribution, insisting that the contents of the bills did not align with the interests of the North and other sub-national entities.
Similarly, the National Economic Council, headed by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, recommended the bills’ withdrawal to allow for wider consultations and consensus building.
Tinubu however insisted that the National Assembly should be allowed to treat the bills.
While the bills have not been presented for a second reading where the principles of the bills will be debated, some lawmakers have expressed divergent views.
Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South) had in a recent interview opposed the bills and vowed to mobilise other lawmakers from the north against them.
Speaking recently, Senator Ogoshi Onawo of Nasarawa South kicked against the bills, saying it was unfair for the government to continue imposing taxes on Nigerians who were battling economic hardship.
