The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari will Thursday present the position of the organisation before the House of Representatives.
Kyari had appeared on Wednesday at the public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Finance on the tax reform bills but his presentation was stood down by the chairman of the committee, James Faleke.
The NNPCL’s boss had started addressing the public hearing but when it was confirmed that some amendments had been made to his memorandum, the chairman of the committee directed that he suspend his presentation till Thursday or Friday.
Meanwhile, the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi has said there are jurisdictional conflicts between the provisions of the Joint Revenue Court Bill, Sections 23 and 29 of the Bill and Section 41A of the Joint Revenue Court Bill.
Giving details, the CGC said “In the Nigerian Revenue Service establishment bill, Section 162 completely legislates Nigerian Customs Service out of existence.
“In Section 4, this is also another omnibus provision. This particular provision gives the proposed NRS oversized functions over all taxes and levies. As observed by the distinguished professor earlier, we are worried that this new law is seeking to override all previous laws that were done to address issues regarding the economy.
“I think it is also important, as we tried to do on page 5 of the document that the substitution of the word tax, the substitution of the word duty by tax in very many areas of the bill seems to overlook the difference and the objective, which these two tools can do in an economy. Our understanding is that tax is used to generate revenue for governments and it is also used to distribute wealth. However, duty goes beyond that.
“Duty is more of a fiscal policy tool, an instrument by governments to encourage the customisation, to discourage environmental pollution, and to put in some kind of public health order. In subsequent parts of the paper, we went on to identify the professional nature of the customs function, which we believe are not related in any way to either general taxation or specific taxation. These are the areas of nature classification, the areas of evaluation, and the areas of rules of volume”.
In his presentation, the Secretary General of the Trade Union Congress, Nuhu Toro said they have identified four areas of concerns with the bills. He said “Mr. Chairman, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria have identified four key concerns with the bill. Number one, gradual increment of VAT from the current 7.5% to 15%. Mr. Chairman and respected members, the TUC rejects the gradual increment of VAT from 7.5% to 15%.
“Our reason is simple; allowing the value-added tax pathway to remain at 7.5% is in the best interest of the nation, as increasing it will replace additional burden on Nigerians, many of whom are already struggling with their economic challenges and realities. At a time when inflation is on the rise, unemployment is on the rise, higher taxes will further strain households and businesses, which eventually might slow down the economy.
“So, we are of the opinion that VAT should remain at 7.5%, Mr. Chairman. Secondly, we propose an increase in tax exemption brackets to 2.5 million per annum. The threshold for tax exemption should be increased from the current 800,000 per annum as proposed in the bill to 2.5 million per annum.
“Mr. Chairman, our third concern is on TETFund and NASENI, which is viewed to be scrapped and defunded. The TUC is of the opinion that both should remain a growing concern, as these institutions have greatly impacted the country through their respective mandates.
“Both have respectively been instrumental in improving our tertiary education and adopting home-grown technology to enhance national productivity and self-reliance. Their continued existence, Mr. Chairman, is vital for sustainable progress in education, technology and economic development across the length and breadth of this country”.
