The Chairman, Presidential Fiscal Policy & Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele has claimed that labour unions and tax experts nearly sabotaged the newly signed Tax Reform Bills.
The tax expert shared this on his social media platform, X, stating that misinformation was rampant during the process.
On June 26, President Bola Tinubu signed the country’s Tax Reform Bill which repeals the Federal Inland Revenue Service Act.
The four bills signed into law are the Nigeria Tax Bill, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill.
Oyede explained that beyond revenue generation, tax reform can help address some of Nigeria’s most pressing national challenges.
He said, “Imagine a tax intelligent system, with a robust beneficial ownership law, unexplained wealth order, effective assets declaration system, conflict of interest reporting, and ensuring that rules for doing business with the government make sense – from procurement to contracting, payments, regulatory fees, and use of technology – will greatly reduce corruption and improve our society.
“In the U.S. you are required to declare assets that you stole to the IRS.”
But during the process of establishing the new tax act, Oyedele lamented that “Misinformation and lack of understanding were rampant.
“Some analysts and even tax professionals did not understand the difference between zero-rated and VAT exemption.
“Labour unions opposed the tax bills that would benefit workers most.”
But he explained that the tax reform act introduced a new measure that protects businesses and the poor.
He said, “The tax reforms focused on people, efficiency, and growth. Some of the key changes include full income tax exemption for over one-third of all workers in the private and public sector; higher exemption threshold for small businesses.
“Changes to make essential consumption more affordable; reduction in input costs for business; simplifying and rationalising taxes; addressing distortions by creating a level playing field; priority sector incentives; boosting exports and tax relief to prevent double taxation for international operations.
“Others are changes to income tax laws to attract remote work opportunities enabling Nigerian youths to thrive in the digital economy; introduction of the tax ombudsman to advocate for a better tax system; attractive tax regime to encourage formalisation of businesses and facilitate growth.
“Faster tax refunds and lower withholding tax rates to reduce cost of working capital; making evasion more costly while simplifying compliance; improved accountability and reporting; more revenue and fairer treatment for sub-nationals.”
