Lagos: A former Member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Oghene Egoh, has appealed to the northern state governors to support the new tax reform bills before the National Assembly.
Egoh made the plea in an interview on Tuesday in Lagos.
Rather than outright opposition, the former federal lawmaker urged the governors to seek more clarification for a better understanding of the provisions of the tax reform bills.
“Some northerners government condemed President Tinubu tax bill because they do not understand it.
“Some of the governors said that it will make their states to be poorer.
“The purpose of the tax reform bills is to ease collection of tax, to streamline the various laws in the country and to make it easier to collect more tax across the states.
“The reform will provide enough money to be distributed to all states and also there will be enough money to run capital projects among other benefits,”Ogene said.
He said that the tax reform would ensure the country to realize more revenue that would be visible by the states and federal governments.
Egoh said that with the act, money generated through VAT and other taxation would be enormous adding that every state would earn more money.
The former lawmaker said that under the proposed bill less money would be remitted into federal government while higher per centage would go to the states.
He said if the bills were passed and properly implemented, no state would become poorer.
Egoh said that there was an element attached to VAT collection which was introduced to the bills, adding that the major indexes would be based on the revenue generated among each state.
“What worries some governors about the reform is that Lagos State will get more money due to revenue collection but it does not make any difference because Lagos State is not getting money from petroleum derivation .
“Lagos State budget is the highest in the federation because they have Internal Generated Revenue which is more than revenue generated by 10 states put together.
“Other states should work harder to improve their Internal Generated Revenue, the same principle of tax that relates to various states is what also relates to Lagos State.
“The more economic activity the state has the more VAT it will collect and this will make state governments to put in efforts to collect the VAT,”Egoh added.
He said that when the VAT is collected more percentage of over 60 per cent would go to the state while th balance would go into federated account for division.
“I can not imagine a state like Ekiti which was small in population and commercial activity will be able to collect VAT more than Kano State, also Ebonyi, cross River that has little oil derivation will get more money than Kano or Kaduna.
“Some state governments are saying that he bill is introduced to suffer the north, it is not correct because the will is not selecting in application but what each state is abel and to collect,”Egoh said.
He said that River state the highest earn on VAT followed by Delta State and Oyo state which was realized though their efforts.
The former reps mentioned commercial activity at Aba, Onitsha, which he described the business activities that be second to Lagos adding that VAT should be generated more from the environment too.
He said that every said had it own economy indexes adding that there were lot of agricultural produced coming from the north which VAT could be generated from the the goods.
Egoh urges state governments to give Mr President chance to change the narrative to enable more development in the country through collection of VAT.
Allow Tinubu ‘s reforms bill to be passed: former Rep. tells state governments
The former Federal House of Representative, Mr Oghene Egoh, has urged the other states government to adopt the four reforms bill proposed by President Bola Tinubu to be passed before the National Assembly.
Hon. Egoh made the plea in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.
He said that some state governors who were condemning President Tinubu reform bill should ask for more explanation to enable them understand better rather than the open condemnation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Bola Tinubu transmitted four tax reform bills to the National Assembly on October 3, 2024.
NAN also reports that the bills were the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill.
The bills would overhaul tax administration and revenue generation in Nigeria, as many of the provisions contained in them were landmark in nature.
These tax reform bills were products of a year’s worth of intense hard work and consultation by the Taiwo Oyedele-led Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms.
The Tax Communitee was inaugurated by President Bola Tinubu in August 2023, two months after assuming office as President.
“Some northern governors and politicians condemn President Tinubu tax bill because they do not understand it.
“Some of the governors said that it will make northern states to be poorer.
It is not true that any state in the federation both north and south will be poorer because of the tax reform.
In fact every state in Nigeria will be richer because of the tax reform.
The tax reform will enable state to generate more income through tax. And the percentage of tax distribution favour the state more than the federal government.
“The purpose of the tax reform bills is to ease collection of tax, to streamline the various laws in the country and to make it easier to collect more tax across the States.
“The reform will provide enough money to be distributed to all states and also there will be enough money to run capital projects among other benefits,” Hon. Oghene said.
He said that the tax reform would ensure the country realised more money that which all the state will benefit from.
Hon. Egoh said that with the act, money generated through VAT and other taxation would be enormous adding that every state would earn more money.
The former Rep. said that President Tinubu’s bill had reduced money that would be sent into federation account while higher percentage would go to the state .
He said if the bills were passed and properly implemented that no state would become poorer.
Hon. Egoh said that there was an element attached to VAT collection which was introduced in the bills adding that the major indexes would be based on the amount each state generated.
“What worries some governors about the reform is that Lagos State will get more money due to revenue collection, but it does not make any different because Lagos State is only getting higher percentage on what they are getting on the revenue from VAT.
“Lagos State budget is the highest in the federation because they have excess of Internal Generated Revenue which is more than revenue generated together by ten states put together.
“Other states should work harder to improve their Internal Generated Revenue, the same principle of tax that relates to various states is what also relates to Legos State.
“The more economic activity the state has the more VAT it will collect and this will make state governments to put in efforts to collect the VAT,” Hon. Egoh added.
He said that when the VAT is collected more per centage of over 60 per cent would go to the state while th balance would go into federated account for division.
“I can not imagine a state like Ekiti which was small in population and commercial activity will be able to collect VAT more than Kano State, also Ebonyi, cross River that has little oil derivation will get more money than Kano or Kaduna.
“Some state governments are saying that the bill is introduced to suffer the north, it is not correct because the bill is not selecting in application but what each state is able and to collect,”Egoh said.
He said that River state the highest earn on VAT followed by Delta State and Oyo state which was realized through their efforts.
The former reps mentioned commercial activity at Aba, Onitsha, which he described the business activities that be second to Lagos adding that VAT should be generated more from the environment too.
He said that every said had it own economy indexes adding that there were lot of agricultural produced coming from the north which VAT could be generated from the the goods.
Egoh urges state governments to give Mr President chance to change the narrative to enable more development in the country through collection of VAT.
President Bola Tinubu transmitted four tax reform bills to the national assembly on October 3, 2024.
Also reports that the bills were the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill.
The bills would overhauled tax administration and revenue generation in Nigeria, as many of the provisions contained in them were landmark in nature.
These tax reform bills were products of a year’s worth of intense hard work and consultation by the Taiwo Oyedele-led Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms.
The tax committee was inaugurated by President Bola Tinubu in August 2023, two months after assuming office as President.
