The Fiscal Responsibility Commission has called for strong support across geopolitical zones for the controversial Tax Reform Bills currently before the National Assembly.
The Chairman of the Commission, Victor Muruako, made this call during an interaction with academics and journalists on the sidelines of the Fellowship Lecture and Investiture Ceremony of the Capital Market Academics of Nigeria, which was held Monday at the NDIC Academy, Central Business District, Abuja.
The bills, which were developed by the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, have been met with strong opposition from lawmakers and other stakeholders across the country, leading to the suspension of legislative action on the bills.
The bills are the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill, 2024; Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, 2024; Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, 2024; and Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024.
Muruako revealed that a critical analysis of the bills by the Fiscal Responsibility Commission has found them as not containing any issue or item that could be said to be skewed to favour any region or section of the country.
In a statement from the Commission on Tuesday, the ES appealed to all stakeholders across geopolitical zones to support the bills because of their transformative potential and to benefit every Nigerian.
“The bills rather create a more equitable distribution of resources amongst Nigeria’s federating states,” Muruako said.
He stated that the Commission’s analysis also confirms that the proposed reforms are designed to benefit all Nigerians, particularly low-income earners and micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises.
Muruako outlined some of the key benefits of the reforms to include tax relief for low-income earners, as individuals earning less than N1.7m annually will pay less income tax. Businesses with turnovers below N50m will be exempted from tax, while over 90 per cent of small businesses will no longer pay profit tax.
He also said that it introduced a simplified tax system that allows the number of taxes and levies to be significantly reduced and leads to increased revenue for sub-national governments, as they will receive a larger share of Value Added Tax revenue while improving the ease of doing business in the country.
The executive chairman is upbeat that the tax relief for low-income earners will enhance savings and capital formation at the household level. He expressed confidence that given the positive correlation between savings and investment, the increase in small household investments across the board would lead to improvements in the sustainable growth of the nation’s economy.
He also opined that the reduced tax burden on small businesses would give MSMEs breathing space, enabling them to grow organically, hence contributing to a sustained increase in the nation’s GDP in the near future.
On the recent controversies over the bills, Muruako praised President Bola Tinubu as a democrat for allowing room for further dialogue.
