On Thursday, the National Economic Council (NEC) urged President Bola Tinubu to withdraw the tax reform bills from the national assembly to give room for consultations.
News About Nigeria reports that the council made the recommendation after its meeting on Thursday.
Speaking for the council after the meeting, the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, revealed that council members agreed that although the country’s underperformance across all indices is related to major revenue sources, including the tax-to-GDP, the President must allow for consensus building and understanding of the bill among Nigerians.
He said, “NEC, today, took a presentation from the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on fiscal policy and tax reforms. Their main focus is fair taxation, responsible borrowing, and sustainable spending. So after extensive deliberation, NEC noted the need for sufficient alignment between and amongst the stakeholders for the proposed reforms.
“So, Council, therefore, recommend the need to withdraw the bill currently before the National Assembly on tax reforms so that we can have wider consultations and also build consensus around these reforms for the benefit of the entire country, and also to give people…for them to know the vision and where we are moving the country in terms of a tax reform, because there’s really a lot of miscommunication and misinformation. So, the bill will draw from the National Assembly, and then there will be consultations afterwards.”
Recall that on October 3, the president asked the National Assembly to consider and pass four tax reform bills.
The proposed laws include the Nigeria tax bill, tax administration bill, and the joint revenue board establishment bill.
