On Monday, February 19, The senate, through Senator Sani Musa, the Chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Finance expressed anger over the N17trn loss incurred by the country on tax waivers within last five years. They urged the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to suspend the tax waivers being largely abused and substitute it with rebating system.
However the Chairman of FIRS, Zacch Adedeji, who made projection of N19.4tn as targeted total tax collection for 2024, insisted that the fresh N2.7tn Tax Credit planned for road construction in the country by the Central Bank of Nigeria, should be stopped .
The senator added that the projection of FIRS of N19tn as total tax collection for 2024 is good when compared to N11.16tn achieved in 2023 but the senate believes that you can do more even to the tune of N30tn if required measures are put in place.
“As impressive and encouraging the performance and projections of FIRS are , under your leadership, this committee and by extension, the Senate, on a serious note, urge you to look at the direction of tax waivers largely being abused with attendant and avoidable losses being incurred on yearly basis. Available records show that within the last five years, about N17tn have been lost by the country to tax waivers. It should be suspended and possibly substituted with a rebating system.”
He noted, “President Bola Tinubu has seen the issue of multiple taxation as a pool of problems. That is why he set up the presidential committee on tax reforms and fiscal policy. As of today in Nigeria, we have 62 types of taxes being collected. The sad news about that is that less than eight out of the entire 62, accounted for 97 per cent of the collection.
“We are already consulting and engaging the state government on it. At the end of the day, we won’t have more than eight or nine taxes that the state and federal government would be collecting.”