- Adedeji commends agencies, assures new tax bills underway will lay solid foundation for sustainability
By Dele Ogbodo
The chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Zacch Adedeji, has allayed fears that there is nothing in the four tax bills currently before the National Assembly (NASS) that threatens the existence of any government agency or MDAs.
The FIRS boss, gave the assurance at the Revenue House, Abuja on Wednesday, while receiving the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) Prof. Suleiman Bogoro.
Adedeji made further clarifications against the background of fears being bandied in some quarters that the proposed change of the name of FIRS to Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) will lead to the tax agency subsuming a number of federal agencies.
The FIRS chairman, who commended the management of the agencies for seeking clarification on the bills, explained that the change would only enhance the efficiency of the agencies and make their operations more seamless.
“I want to assure you that there is nothing in the bills that will reduce your funding, effectiveness or efficiency. What we have in the Bills are provisions that will help us in laying a solid foundation for your sustainability.
“The Federal Government is repositioning its fiscal outlook to be able to meet the funding requirements of all agencies. The main objective is to enhance tax efficiency, ease compliance levels.
“The bills, when passed into law, will give various agencies the opportunity to focus on their respective functions rather than bothering about revenue collection.
“In our minds, we see change as reduction or elimination, which is not true. Most times, change is responding to our current circumstances. There is a consensus that multiplicity of taxes is one of our problems. But what are the foundations of this multiplicity?
“The laws that set up these agencies, commissions and boards have tax provisions embedded in them and these provisions must be implemented. So when people carry out their own constitutional roles as stipulated in their acts or laws, you can’t say what they are doing is illegal.
“So, in the wisdom of President Bola Tinubu, for us to overcome these problems, we should harmonise these laws scattered in different books. That is what the Nigeria tax bill means.
“And when you look at the real principle of this reform is to bring us up to date, to actually show the reality of what we do now and also to stimulate economic activities.
“For us to be competitive and be able to convince business people around the world that Nigeria should be their preferred investment destination, we have to do it in the best way.” Adedeji said.