According to Zacch Adedeji, the chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), none of the four tax bills that are presently before the National Assembly will jeopardise the jobs of people or the existence of any government agency because they will help to lower the number of taxes in the nation.
While meeting with the chief executives of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) in Abuja on Wednesday, Adedeji assured the Revenue House. He commented against the backdrop of concerns that the tax agency might eventually absorb several government agencies if FIRS‘s name were changed to Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS).
Adedeji clarified that the modification would only improve the agencies’ efficiency and streamline their operations while applauding the agency management for requesting clarification on the bills.
According to him: “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 and 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,” he added.
Furthering, he had this to say: “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 the 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 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,” he added.
The agency heads alternated between outlining their missions and how they had aided in the growth and prosperity of the country, BrandSpur national news stories report.
