President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government has allayed Nigerians’ fears that funds generated from the Valued Added Tax (VAT), as proposed in the bills being considered by the National Assembly, would be mismanaged by the government at the subregional levels.
This assurance was given by Dr Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, on Wednesday, December 11.
Legit.ng reported that the northern governors openly rejected Tinubu’s new tax reform bills, describing them as unfavourable to northern states and some southern states.
But Oyedele noted that rather than mismanagement, the proposed tax reforms bills had made specific provisions for what the VAT proceeds should be spent on.
As reported by The Nation, he also said that the role of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has nothing to do with VAT because it is not part of revenues captured in the nation’s constitution.
Speaking further, Oyedele asserted that since the bills contained a framework for how to generate taxes and how to spend it, no governor or local governor authority in the country would spend VAT on white elephant projects.
Oyedele said:
“We have a document we call the National Fiscal Policy that speaks to our principles and framework as a country around taxation; who should pay tax, how much should they pay, how should they pay, among other issues.”
“In fact, if we start collecting VAT at state level, you know the biggest winner will be the federal government. The federal government will keep more than half of the VAT we are collecting today.”
Oyedele made these assertions when he spoke at one-day roundtable on the tax reform bills organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in Abuja.
Read more about the tax reform bills
Tax bills: Sowunmi blames Tinubu for northern opposition
Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that PDP chieftain Segun Sowunmi expressed concern over the four tax bills presented to the National Assembly.
Sowunmi blamed President Tinubu for the current pushback the bills have been getting and stated the major reason for stiff opposition from the northern region.
Legit reported that the northern governors opposed the tax reform bills, noting that the proposed legislation would leave northern states and other less industrialized regions at a disadvantage.