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Senate President Godswill Akpabio, yesterday came under fire from the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC, and Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, NECA, over his comments that only 30 per cent of Nigerians pay tax but want more from the government.
Akpabio, who made the statement while declaring open a two-day public hearing on the controversial tax reforms bills organised by the Senate in Abuja yesterday, also described tax reforms as the future of Nigeria which must be gotten right.
But the NLC, TUC and NECA in swift reactions, said Nigerians evade taxes where the government remains unaccountable to the people.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu, according to the chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa at the public hearing, asked the Senate to give him workable laws from the bills he sent to the Upper chamber on October 3, 2024.
This is even as stakeholders in the polity, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL; Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission, RMFAC; National Association of Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, NACCIMA; Arewa Think Tank; and Retired Permanent Secretaries, threw their weight behind the bills.
Also supporting the bills were the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, Chartered Institute of Bankers, Market Academy of Nigeria, Ministry of Trade and Investment, and Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, ANAN.
Similarly, the Arewa Think Tank, led by the convener, Muhammad Yakubu, debunked insinuations that the North is against the bills.
Recall that the tax reform bills which are (i) The Nigeria Tax Bill (NTB) 2024, (ii)The Nigeria Tax Administration Bill (NTAB) 2024, (iii)The Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill (NRSEB) 2024 and (iv) The Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill (JRBEB) 2024, were passed for second reading in the Senate on November 28, 2024, and forwarded to the Committee on Finance for more legislative inputs through yesterday’s public hearing.
Declaring the public hearing open, Akpabio said the tax reform bills presented before the Senate and the House of Representatives, formed the future of Nigeria, stressing that ‘’it must be got right.’’
He said the Senate is not in a hurry to rush the bills as there would be clause-by-clause consideration before they are passed
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