House passes tax reform bills for second reading

Abdullateef Fowewe

The House of Representatives has passed four tax reform bills for a second reading and referred them to the House Committee on Finance for further legislative action, including a public hearing.

This was made known in a short video shared on social media on Wednesday, by the Chairman, Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele.

The bills include the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, the Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board.

He captioned the video, “The House of Representatives has today passed the four tax reform bills for Second Reading and referred them to the Finance Committee of the House for further legislative work, including public hearing.

“We are grateful to the lawmakers for their robust debates and diligent consideration of the bills and look forward to continued engagement with the National Assembly and active participation in the public hearing process.
May Nigeria win!”

However, the House of Representatives Minority Caucus has expressed support for the Federal Government’s initiative to sanitise the nation’s tax system but has suggested a review of certain provisions within the tax reform bills.

The Minority Caucus Leader, Kingsley Chinda, highlighted concerns with the N50m Company Income Tax Exemption proposal, deeming it inconsistent with current economic realities.

Dailyeconomy reported that these bills were initially sent to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu on September 3, 2024, following recommendations from the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, led by Oyedele.

Oyedele expressed gratitude to the lawmakers for their thorough debates and consideration of the bills. He said the government aims to begin implementation in early July 2025, provided the National Assembly passes the bills before the end of March 2025, which would allow sufficient time to notify taxpayers and prepare for implementation.