Why Northern Nigeria still or won’t get the rush over passing a quartet of tax bills
A formation of 48 lower house members from the Northeast, followed by 24 Senators from Kano and one from Sokoto in the form of the immediate past Governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aminu Tambuwal stood against the discussion on amending tax laws. This 73 represents a northern fold that will not let the bill pass for now.
All the specifics that make up the four tax bills that the President of Nigeria Bola Tinubu transmitted to the National Assembly on Thursday 3 October 2024 suggest massive benefits to all classes be it the 9-to-5 workers or the companies that employed them. Nonetheless, all the 19 northern state governors are unable to trust the riches the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee has promised if the proposed legislation passes, partly because there has been so much haste shown on the Executive side, coupled with the immense suffering the policies of the government have unleashed on Nigerians.
Unlike in the Nigeria Senate, even though there have been protests from some lawmakers sitting there about the derivation-based argument springing up from particularly The Nigeria Tax Administration Bill 2024, they had been more open to listening to the Chairman of the presidential tax reforms committee, Mr Taiwo Oyedele who last Wednesday presented pitches on why lawmakers should give their consent.
A part of The Nigeria Tax Administration Bill 2024 while noting how Value Added Tax revenue will be distributed, quotes that provided that 60% of the amount standing to the credit of states and local governments shall be distributed among them on the basis of derivation, and that’s what the northern governors have strongly contended.
Before a memo drafted by the Clerk of the House of Representatives, Dr Yahaya Danzaria on the last day of November called it off, a Special Session on Tax Reform Bills had been fixed to be held tomorrow Tuesday 3 December in the House of Representatives chamber.
A formation of 48 lower house members from the Northeast, followed by 24 Senators from Kano and one from Sokoto in the form of the immediate past Governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aminu Tambuwal stood against the discussion on amending tax laws. This 73 represents a northern fold that will not let the bill pass for now.
They have called for room for consultations on whether the bills would truly become what they have been mapped out to be – a relief for all demographics.
Since discussions on the bills have been aborted until further notice, there apparently won’t be room for Mr Taiwo Oyedele to make a similar pitch as he did when the Deputy President of the Senate Barau Jibrin had given him the floor.
While he was making the presentation before sometimes attentive Senators, the video footage capturing Mr Oyedele from the podium will often beam a focus on Senator Ali Ndume representing Borno South constituency. The Senator in a television interview has admitted that he is ready to leave the All Progressives Congress (APC) political party, which President Bola Tinubu currently heads, if the latter’s tax bills come into law.
Let me take it one after the other but they may have different opinions. When you say those earning N800,000 below do not pay VAT – on what? Do you exclude him from paying VAT for the goods that he will buy in the market? And then the corporate tax goes up. Now they transfer the cost or the taxes over to the consumer. So, are you helping him?
Senator Ndume was asking all the questions when he appeared on Channels Television last Thursday. He could not shake off a suspicious feeling he had been having asking why the hurry.
The Governor of his state Babagana Zulum also questioned the haste a day after with the BBC. Indeed, the Presidency’s body language shows it wants a speedy passage of the proposed bills as its vision of a prosperous 2025 and beyond ties to it.
Proposed legislation graciously indicates timelines and progression over the form remittances should take in the long run, as seen with the Nigeria Tax Bill specifically.
This bill is for an act to repeal certain acts on taxation and consolidate the legal frameworks relating to taxation and enact the Nigeria tax act to provide for taxation of income, transactions and instruments, and related matters, reads the explanatory header.
But minds in the north of Nigeria are yet to buy the goods and won’t be convinced, hence a deadlock for the time being. Maybe President Bola Tinubu’s charm at reaching a compromise will be on the cards depending on how stiff the pathway gets.
