90% of Nigerians back tax reform bills – Presidency

Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has said that 90 per cent of Nigerians support the tax reform bills currently before the National Assembly.

Taiwo, who stated this on Monday at a special town hall on the tax reform bills on Channels TV, said his team conducted a survey when it met with tax professionals and Chief Financial Officers, with over 3,000 online and offline participants.

“Guess what? For all the participants who attended in person, the approval rate is 100 per cent. For those who participated online by watching the recorded session, 92 per cent of those who did not participate at all but have been reading what we have been putting out, the approval rate is 76 per cent overall.

“Nigerians who support these reforms holistically are over 90 per cent, and the areas where we have controversies, we can iron out.

“These bills have more than 200 transformative provisions to free our country and set us on the right path to prosperity. We should not allow one or two provisions that we can easily discuss and agree on to become the pain or the bottleneck,” he stated.

President Bola Tinubu, in September, transmitted four tax reform bills to the National Assembly for consideration, following the recommendations of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal and Tax Reforms, headed by Taiwo Oyedele, for the review of existing tax laws.

The bills are the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, which is expected to provide the fiscal framework for taxation in the country, and the Tax Administration Bill, which will provide a clear and concise legal framework for all taxes in the country and reduce disputes.

Others are the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, which will repeal the Federal Inland Revenue Service Act and establish the Nigeria Revenue Service, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill, which will create a tax tribunal and a tax ombudsman.

The executive bills have, however, not gained the support of state governors, who called for their withdrawal to allow for more consultation, a proposal rejected by President Tinubu.