The Senate has passed for second reading the Tax Reform Bills, a set of four legislative proposals. Among other things, they seek to increase the Value-Added Tax (VAT) distributable to states to 55 percent while reducing the Federal Government’s share to 10 percent.

The new legislative regimes also proposed zero VAT on exports and essential commodities, and to reduce company income tax from 30 to 25 per cent among others.

While the bills were referred to the Committee on Finance to carry out other legislative action, it was tasked to invite all the stakeholders to a public hearing to address all areas of concern and report back to the Senate in six weeks.

These far-reaching initiatives were contained in the lead debate of Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele on the Tax Reform Bills.

The Federal Executive Council, FEC, had proposed the Tax Reform Bills comprising 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.

The bills elicited interests among lawmakers and stakeholders across party lines, a situation that led the leadership of the Senate to invite Chairman, Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele and Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Dr. Zacch Adedeji to brief its plenary.

Leading debate at the plenary, Bamidele reeled out far-reaching proposals contained in the Tax Reform Bills, which according to him, aim at simplifying the tax landscape, reducing the burden on small businesses and streamlining how taxes are collected.

Tax exemptions

On tax exemptions, Bamidele pointed out that those whose salaries are not more than the minimum wage are exempted from Pay As You Earn, PAYE, deductions.

He also said small businesses with annual turnover of N50 million or less “are equally exempted from payment of taxes,” a key pro-business initiative that encourages job creation; deepens ease of doing business and incentivises more investments.

Similarly, the Senate Leader explained that there is a proposed huge reduction in company income tax from the current 30 per cent to 25 per cent that will last for at least two years.

He said: “As part of a deliberate attempt to curtail the incidence of double taxation and multiplicity of taxes and levies, multiple taxes hitherto paid by companies under various tax heads namely 2.5 per cent education tax, and 0.25 per cent NASENI tax have been harmonized into a development levy of 2 per cent, which by 2030 will be applied to fund the newly established student loans scheme which will benefit many Nigerian youths.

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“Unlike what is obtainable under the existing tax regime whereby the Federal Government takes a lion share of VAT revenues, it is proposed that the sharing formula should allow state governments share 55 per cent of VAT revenue from the current 15 to 10 per cent sharing formula.

“However, local governments’ share of VAT revenue remains unaffected. Relatedly, basic items consumed by Nigerian households such as food items, medical services and pharmaceuticals, educational fees, electricity etc. are exempted from VAT.

“Again, as part of efforts to ease the administration of income taxes and levies across the Federation, there is a reasonable effort made to consolidate core tax statutes and related tax legislations,” Bamidele explained.

Pro-poor proposals

Contrary to misrepresentations in the public domain regarding the intendment of the Bills under consideration, Bamidele explained that the bills contained innovative and people-oriented proposals as part of government’s deliberate fiscal and tax reform measures to cushion the effect of ongoing broader economic policies such as the removal of subsidy on petroleum products, renewed efforts to implement cost-reflective electricity tariffs in the power sector, etc on Nigerian citizens.

In his contribution, former Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South) claimed that his problem is about timing and the issue of derivation.

He added that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) must be amended before the Tax Reform Bills could take effect, therefore calling for its immediate withdrawal.

Ndume observed: “I am not against the reform, my problem is timing and the issue of derivation make the reform contagious. The 1999 Constitution has to be amended before the bills can be effective.”

However, Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Mohammed Monguno (Borno North) expressed strong objection to Ndume’s submissions, asking the Senate to disregard it and pass the bills for second reading.

Monguno urged the Senate to pass the bill into second reading, advocating that all areas of concern will be addressed at the public hearing stage.

After the exhaustive debate to which Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa and Chairman, Senate Committee on Ecology, Senator Seriake Dickson meaningfully contributed, the Senate unanimously passed the bills into second reading following Monguno’s final position.

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Bills referred to committee
In his remarks, President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio referred the bill to the Committee on Finance led by Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), to carry out other legislative action, invite all the stakeholders to a public hearing to address all areas of concern and report back to the Senate in six weeks.

Senator Akpabio said that during the public hearing experts will be invited as well as Governors under the aegis of Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, traditional rulers and other stakeholders, assuring that at the end of the day, “the Senate will give to Nigerians and the country what is good.”

How senators passed bills for second reading

Prior to debate on the bills, the Senators had gone into a closed-door session from 11.55am to 12.42pm.
The resolution of the Senate was sequel to presentation of the lead debate on the general principles of the bills by the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central).

After lead debate presentations, most of the senators, who made contributions like Senators Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), Seriake Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa West), Abba Moro (PDP, Benue South) and Senate Whip, Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno North) supported the bill.

However, former Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South) kicked against the reform bills.

Ndume kicks

Ndume said: “Reforms are necessary if we have to move forward. I am not against reforms. And I am not against these reforms, tax reforms. My problem is the timing. The timing, as it is today, when you talk about reforms in Nigeria, whether good or bad, they’re misconceived.

“There are four or three things there. But, as you said, the time for that would be at the public hearing or when we pass it for second reading. But let it be on record that my problem with the bills is the timing. Number two, the issue of derivation made the reform contagious, contaminated, and contradictory in some cases. Because the Constitution has to be amended in order for some of these proposals to be effective. I’m glad we are doing a constitutional review. So even if it means reviewing the constitution. This is the general principle.

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“As you said, or as the Senators decided, we should not throw away the baby with the bath water. I would have preferred we remove the baby and throw away the water, and that is to go with what the governors and NEC proposed: that these bills should be withdrawn, they are not saying that the bills should be killed. You withdraw the bill, bring it back to the National Assembly again after getting the buy-in of the governors and NEC and even our traditional rulers.”

“In conclusion, Mr. President, the third problem I mentioned is the people through the governors and then and the traditional rulers say that the bills should be withdrawn, make some necessary amendments. And then bring it back and we can pass it in 24 hours. That is my position, Mr. President.”

Monguno disagrees with Ndume
Supporting the bills, the Senate Whip, Senator Mohammed Monguno (APC, Borno North) said: “With all due respect to Senator Ndume, I beg to disagree with you that these bills should be withdrawn first and consultation should be held with the Nigeria Governors Forum and traditional rulers.

“We have a procedure which is clearly and ambiguously stated in our Rule book for the process of lawmaking. And the Constitution, in a very clear and unambiguous tab, gave us the power to regulate our proceedings in Section 60. Pursuant to Section 60 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, we get these rules to ourselves in order to guide our proceedings. And then the process of lawmaking is very clear and unambiguous as per this book. That second reading, it will be now transmitted to the Committee for Public Hearing. In the course of the public hearing, Nigerians of all walks of life, of all groups, will come and aggregate, including the governors and traditional rulers, are free to come and ventilate their opinion.”

On his part, Senator Dickson said: “Tax revenue is something that I fully support. I am aware that some issues have been raised, and that is legitimate in a country of diverse people, cultures, and expectations. All we are expected to do is to harness all of these and enact laws in the national interest, which I believe, following our rules.

“At the committee stage, during the public hearing, anybody who has anything to say will be invited to say it, as the Chairman of the Committee has said. Now, there are issues I am concerned with. Some of these issues that have been raised are also as a result of insufficient consensus-building and consultation prior to the introduction. It’s understandable.

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“As a former governor, while some governors were interested in some of these, some expressed concerns. That is legitimate. That consultation should have taken place. And I believe between now and at the end of our legislative activities, more consultations will happen. But that does not detract from the essence of the legislation that have been sent to us.

“For example, there is emphasis on derivation according to taxation. And the attempt now is to encourage states to be productive.

“I am concerned about where I come from, from the experiences you and I have, where oil workers are flown onto oil platforms in Eket and Ibeno in Akwa Ibom, or flown into Bonny and other areas in River State, or flown into Brass in Bayelsa, and in the Southern Niger area, and in Delta State, in Ogoni and Forcados.

“We are interested that this is an opportunity for the taxes from those oil workers to be calculated and paid to the oil-producing states where those activities are generated. Now the gains are being calculated and paid where the head office is located, as has been the case, where the tax is registered.

“And from the general principles underlying this bill, there is a move and a commitment by the executive to address that issue of revenue derivation, to ensure that payee taxes, even for the oil workers that are flown in and flown out every day after their work, be calculated and paid. If that is done, it is a good move that should be supported.

“When we get to the committee stage, we’ll look at the specific details but there’s nothing wrong in saying that the telephone calls that are made in Bayelsa or Akwa Ibom or Sokoto or Kano, the VAT on those things that are consumed, be calculated and paid to those states. And we are told that that is the essence of these bills. And there’s nothing wrong about it.

“Because VAT is a consumption tax, it is not a production tax. Those who are in the states who consume services, the VAT accruing to those should be calculated and paid. I’m sure when we look at the details, we’ll see whether there’s enough mechanism to guarantee transparency and accuracy in terms of administration.”
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