Yesterday, Zaccheus Adedeji, the chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), allayed concerns expressed in certain quarters regarding the potential introduction of new levies through the tax reform bills that the National Assembly is now debating.
In an interactive meeting with the Senate Committee on Finance in Abuja, Adedeji provided this clarification.
He guaranteed that neither new taxes nor hikes to already-existing ones would be included in the tax reform proposals.
According to Adedeji, tax reform will lower the amount of taxes that Nigerians pay rather than introducing new ones or raising the proportion of already-existing ones.
In the process of implementing the reforms, no agency will be combined, and no one’s position will be eliminated.
The main goal of the tax reform is to make Nigeria’s tax administration more straightforward and effective.
According to him, President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s current tax laws aren’t intended to “tax poverty but prosperity, fruits and not seeds, returns and not investments.”
“Once enacted into law, the four bills—the Nigeria Tax Bill, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (amendment) Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board (establishment) Bill—would, among other things, aid in harmonizing the various tax laws in the nation.
Encourage modernization and efficiency, simplify tax laws and ensure collaboration between pertinent agencies, increase government savings efficiency and effectiveness, encourage honesty and transparency in revenue collection, harmonize with international standards, expand Nigeria’s tax base, etc.
In response to a question about why the proposed renaming of FIRS as the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) was made, Adedeji stated that the current name of the organization does not encompass the range of its services, such as Value Added Tax (VAT), of which, in his estimation, is remitted to the States in the amount of 85%, with the Federal government receiving the remaining 15%.
The goal of the interactive session, according to Committee Chairman Senator Sani Musa, was for the head of FIRS to provide the committee with an update on the goals of the proposed tax reforms.
“The government’s agenda revolves around tax reforms, which necessitate positive contributions from all parties involved,” he stated.
He pushed the head of FIRS to surpass the revenue target and congratulated him on attaining the fiscal year’s revenue targets. Senator Sani Musa emphasized the importance of collaboration between the government and FIRS in achieving the set revenue goals. He also urged FIRS to continue exceeding expectations in revenue generation to support the government’s agenda for tax reforms.
