Presidency debunks alleged discrepancies in newly signed tax reform laws

The Presidency has dismissed claims that there are discrepancies between the tax reform laws recently signed by President Bola Tinubu and the versions passed by the National Assembly, describing documents currently circulating in the media as unauthentic.

The clarification followed allegations by a member of the House of Representatives, Abdulsamad Dasuki, who claimed that the tax laws gazetted and released to the public were different from those approved by the National Assembly.

Dasuki argued that the situation amounted to a violation of his legislative rights and raised concerns over the integrity of the law-making process.

In response to the allegations, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, alongside some civil society organisations, called on the Federal Government to suspend the implementation of the tax reform laws pending clarification.

However, speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Monday, the Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, firmly rejected the claims, insisting that the documents being compared in the public space were not official.

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

According to him, only lawmakers are in a position to authoritatively state what was transmitted to the President for assent, noting that even members of the tax reform committee did not have access to the certified harmonised versions of the bills.

“Before you can say there is a difference between what was gazetted and what was passed, we must have what was actually passed. We don’t have that,” Oyedele said.

“The official harmonised bills certified by the Clerk of the National Assembly and transmitted to the President are not in the public domain. Only the lawmakers can say authoritatively what they sent. It should be the harmonised version certified by the Clerk. Even I do not have a copy. I only have what was presented to Mr President for signing,” he added.

Oyedele further disclosed that the House of Representatives committee on the matter had informed him that it had not met to deliberate on the alleged discrepancies, stressing that the document currently in circulation did not originate from the committee.

He urged members of the public to exercise patience and allow the House of Representatives to carry out its investigation into the matter to establish the facts.

President Bola Tinubu recently signed four major tax reform bills into law, a move the government says is aimed at strengthening fiscal sustainability, improving revenue generation, and modernising Nigeria’s tax system.