The four tax reform bills transmitted to the National Assembly in 2024 by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu have scaled second reading at the House of Representatives.
Six months after the President forwarded the bills to the National Assembly for review in response to the recommendations of the Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, which was led by Taiwo Oyedele, the bills passed the second reading on the Green Chamber floor on Wednesday.
The Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, the Tax Administration Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill are among the bills.
Now that the bills have passed the second reading, a public hearing will take place.
Many people, especially opposition lawmakers and northern governors, fiercely opposed the new tax bills and requested that they be removed from the National Assembly. The dispute around the bills was extensive.
Speaker after speaker backed the bill during Wednesday’s plenary, however one lawmaker, Sada Soli, expressed concern that some parts of the new bills would conflict with the 1999 Constitution.
According to Soli, the derivation problem needs to be precisely described to prevent any confusion.
He was optimistic that the committee responsible for reviewing the bills would address any possible issues before their approval.
Additionally, several members called attention to the 40 acts that the bills aimed to change and asked that Parliament be presented with them.
Since both the buyer and the seller are required to pay taxes, lawmakers claimed that the bill’s section addressing dual taxation in property purchases should be addressed.
