The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called on Nigerians to thoroughly review the four tax reform bills submitted by President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly.

It emphasised the need for informed criticism instead of outright rejection.

In a telephone interview with The PUNCH, the President of the LCCI, Gabriel Idahosa, underscored the need for stakeholders to delve into the details of the proposed legislation before forming opinions or engaging in public discourse.

He declared, “The first thing is for any person seriously concerned to make some effort to read the bills. The second thing is to identify the specific areas of concern. That is the only way you can have an intelligent conversation about the bill.

“Most people making comments have not read the bills. They have just been told by somebody who has read it and gone to look for anything to complain about.

That is not the way to have an intelligent conversation about the bills.”

The tax reform bills include the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, which aims to establish a comprehensive fiscal framework for tax regulation and the Tax Administration Bill, which seeks to provide a clear and concise legal structure for managing taxes in Nigeria to reduce disputes and enhance efficiency.

The others are the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill to repeal the Federal Inland Revenue Service Act and create the Nigeria Revenue Service and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill to create a tax tribunal and a tax ombudsman to address tax-related matters.

Idahosa affirmed the tax reform bills proposed significant changes aimed at redistributing the tax burden by reducing taxes for low-income earners and small businesses while increasing obligations for wealthy individuals and larger corporations.

The LCCI president urged the business community to study the bills deeply, stating, “It requires people who are genuinely interested to read the bills. And then, there are issues here and there that individual stakeholders may want to bring up. For example, if you are in manufacturing and think that incentives for the import of raw materials should be put there; of course, you can go to the hearings and say so.

“These bills took a whole year of consultations across the country, led by the (Taiwo) Oyedele Committee. They represent the collective efforts of stakeholders. However, no legislation is perfect, and individuals or groups may have specific issues with certain clauses. The right approach is to identify these areas and present them during public hearings.”

Idahosa stated that the LCCI would avoid making definitive statements on the bills until its members complete a thorough review.

 “We made presentations throughout the consultations, and we are now studying the bills for public hearings.

“For now, our stance is clear: stakeholders should study every single clause and come to public hearings prepared with informed suggestions,” he explained.

Northern governors have kicked against the tax reform bills, arguing that it favoured the South.

He dismissed the idea of blanket approval or rejection of the bills, stressing the complexity and volume of the proposals.

“There cannot be a yes or no situation as far as the bill is concerned. It is a matter of looking into them and saying, ‘All of this is fine except one or two things that you mentioned or most of it is not good and this is why we think so.’ And you mention those things.

“But it is not possible, certainly not for LCCI, to come out at any point in a position that any of the four bills are bad or good. We are only going to look at them in detail. And if there are clauses that we think require some amendments, we will make that known directly during public hearings and then at some time we are likely to come out with a press statement that harmonises our study of the four bills,” he expounded.

Idahosa called on the media, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders to contribute constructively by scrutinising the bills and submitting thoughtful amendments where necessary.

“The right thing to do now is to study, both the private business community, the stakeholders, the media too; the correspondents in that space in tax policy, everybody should study the bills and identify matters of concern to various stakeholders,” he concluded.

President Bola Tinubu on August 7, 2023, inaugurated the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, led by Taiwo Oyedele, a tax expert with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Oyedele committee proposed four tax reform bills, which President Tinubu submitted to the National Assembly on October 3, 2024.

On October 31, 36 state governors under the Nigeria Governors Forum opposed the bills.

The governors requested the withdrawal of the bills for further review, which the Presidency declined, insisting on the reforms’ national benefits.

The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, argued that the bills would not marginalise the Northern region.

Despite the controversies that have greeted the bills, the Senate on November 28 passed the bills for a second reading.

On Wednesday, the Senate temporarily halted action on the tax reform bills pending when the controversies surrounding the bills were addressed.