A former member of the House of Representatives, Mr Oghene Egoh, has urged governors of States in the north to support the tax reform bills currently before the National Assembly.
Mr Egoh made the plea in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
The former federal lawmaker urged the governors to seek more clarification for a better understanding of the provisions of the tax reform bills rather than outright opposition.
He further advised that the tax reform would ensure more revenue that would be available to the States and Federal governments.
He said that with the act, money generated through VAT and other taxes would be enormous, adding that every state would earn more money.
The former lawmaker added that under the proposed bill less money would be remitted to 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.
According to him with collection of VAT, over 60 per cent would go to the States while the balance would go into the federated account for division.
He said that every state had it own economy indexes, adding that there were lots of agricultural produce coming from the north which VAT could be generated from.
Egoh urged State governments to give President Tinubu a 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 Oct. 3, 2024.
The four bills transmitted by the President 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.
