Presidency speaks on tax law discrepancies

The Presidency has dismissed claims of discrepancies in the newly signed tax reform laws.

It said that the documents circulating in the media were not authentic.

The clarification came after a member of the House of Representatives, Abdulsamad Dasuki, alleged that the versions of the tax laws gazetted and released to the public differed from those passed by the National Assembly.

The lawmaker argued that his legislative rights had been violated.

In the wake of the allegation, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi, and some civil society organisations urged the government to halt the implementation of the laws.

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However, speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Monday, Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, said the documents circulating in the media were not authentic.

Oyedele said there was no basis for comparing the laws passed by the National Assembly with the gazetted versions because the officially harmonised bills certified by the Clerk of the National Assembly had not been made public.

He explained that only lawmakers could authoritatively state what was transmitted to the President.

He noted that even members of the tax reform committee did not have access to the certified harmonised versions.

“Before you can say there is a difference between what was gazette 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 said.

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According to him, the House of Representatives committee informed him that it had not met on the matter, adding that the document in circulation did not emanate from the committee.

He urged the public to allow the House of Representatives to conduct its investigation into the matter.

It was reported that President Bola Tinubu had recently signed four tax reform bills into law.