President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Leye Kupoluyi, has called for total transparency and true harmonisation of taxes when the new tax law takes effect from next year.
 
Speaking with The Guardian in Lagos, Kupoluyi expressed optimism that the new tax law would hopefully take care of the issue of multiple and over-taxation of businesses, which he said had been a heavy burden on businesses for years.

He lamented that some organisations pay as many as 16 or more different taxes/levies to different government agencies regularly, adding that most of these taxes are duplicated.

He said: “We expect that this problem of multiple taxation is taken care of once and for all and levies are harmonised into just one, preferably. Most importantly, there must be transparency in the new tax reform; that is the only way it would work.

“It must be extremely transparent and leave no room for ambiguity. We don’t want anyone to come back a few months or years later and start talking about one levy or the other.”

He expressed that taxes must not be punitive, but employed in such a way to help businesses grow, create more employment and increase the government’s revenue in a fair manner.

He declared that any form of taxes or levies that led to the closure of businesses were regressive, insisting that taxes must be equitable, realistic and business-friendly.

On how businesses could be protected under the new tax laws, he urged state actors not to misinterpret or misapply the laws.

“We know some people would want to misinterpret the laws and I urge businesses and entrepreneurs to read up for themselves what the law says to prevent being swindled,” he said.

Acknowledging that there had been a lot of apprehension and concern over what some businesses say might be increased taxation, he allayed such concerns, adding that the government had carried out several enlightenment programmes on what the new tax laws would look like, how they would affect businesses and what entrepreneurs should expect.

Commenting on the business environment in the country, Kupoluyi advocated for urgent harmonisation of Nigeria’s regulatory environment, better coordination of fiscal and monetary policies and infrastructure overhaul to save the system.