Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, on Monday, enumerated consequences Nigerians should expect if the new tax laws are not implemented by January 1, 2026.
His explanation comes on the heels of clamours by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and several civil society organisations, for the suspension of the implementation of the laws.
Oyedele, while speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, noted that 98 per cent of workers will continue to suffer multiple taxations if the laws are not implemented.
“The implication of not implementing the new tax laws by January 1, 2026, is that the bottom 98 per cent of workers remain overtaxed.
“Businesses will miss out on exemptions and will continue to pay multiple taxes, creating large burdens.
“Minimum taxes continue to apply on low and small unprofitable businesses, hidden VAT continues to make prices of basic consumptions like food, healthcare, and education continue to go up,” he said.
He suggested that instead of asking for the cancellation of tax implementation, areas of concern should be addressed.
“So, we need to be clear about what we are asking for.
“That is why I keep saying that even if it is established that there have been substantial alterations to what the National Assembly passed, my view will be to identify those provisions, and those provisions mean that, of course, they are not part of the law.
“So, you then go ahead to implement the law as passed by the NASS, while you address the issues as to how they got in there in the first place, and what to do.”
Oyedele noted that there were aspects of the version already passed by the National Assembly that needed to be amended.
“I will say to you that regarding the one passed by NASS, even my committee and I have noted areas where we need to go back through Mr President to request amendments to those laws, because there were issues with referencing and definition.”
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He also weighed in on the controversy trailing the new tax laws.
A member of the House of Representatives, Abdulsamad Dasuki, recently raised concerns about what he described as discrepancies between tax laws passed by the National Assembly and the versions subsequently gazetted and made available to the public.
Dasuku argued that his legislative rights had been breached because the content of the gazetted tax laws did not reflect what lawmakers debated and approved on the floor of the House.
“Before you can say there is a difference between what was gazetted and what was passed, we have what has not been gazetted. We don’t have what was passed,” he said.
“The official harmonised bills certified by the clerk, which the National Assembly sent to the President, we don’t have a copy to compare. Only the lawmakers can say authoritatively what we sent.
“It should be the House of Representatives or Senate version. It should be the harmonised version certified by the clerk. Even me, I cannot say that I have it. I only have what was presented to Mr President to sign.”
Oyedele stated that he reached out to the House of Representatives Committee regarding a particular Section 41 (8), which states, “You have to pay a deposit of 20 per cent.”
He noted that the response given by the committee was that its members had not met on the issue.
“I know that particular provision is not in the final gazette, but it was in the draft gazette. Some people decided that they should write the report of the committee before the committee had met, and it had circulated everywhere.
“What is out there in the media did not come from the committee set up by the House of Representatives. I think we should allow them do the investigation,” Oyedele added.
President Bola Tinubu signed the four tax reform bills into law, marking what the government has described as the most significant overhaul of the country’s tax system in decades.
The tax reform laws, which faced stiff opposition from federal lawmakers from the northern part of the country before their passage, are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026.
The laws include the Nigeria Tax Act, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, all operating under a single authority, the Nigeria Revenue Service.
