I’m not against tax reform bills – Ndume identifies two contentious areas

Senator Ali Ndume, lawmaker representing the Borno South Senatorial district says although the controversial tax reform bills have a good prospect, it should be withdrawn for two reasons.

Speaking on the floor of the upper legislative chamber on Thursday, the lawmaker, who earlier kicked against the bills, identified timing as one of the elements drawing antagonisms to the proposed bills.

According to the lawmaker, introducing such a bill at the moment was a bad timing, citing the current perception of the present administration by the populace.

The lawmaker stated that “as it is today, when you talk about reforms to Nigerians, whether good or bad, they misconceive you”.

He also identified derivation and the Value Added Tax, VAT as another bone of contention in the bills, stressing that the two items are “not something that many of us will agree to”.

Ndume advised that the bill is withdrawn to allow for further scrutiny, stating that he was not interested in killing the bill.

He said, “Reform is necessary if we have to move forward. I am not again reforms and I am not against the tax reform bills. My problem is first of all, timing.

“Let it be on record that my second issue with the bill is the issue of derivation. It makes the bill contaminated and contradictory in some cases.

“The constitution has to be amended for some of these provisions to be effective. I’m glad we are doing constitutional review so even if it means reviewing the constitution lets do that.

“We should go with what the governors and the NEC proposed. I’m not saying that the bills should be killed. But we have to withdraw the bill, work on it, ans submit it to the national assembly again.

“Let’s be sincere to ourselves. If we sit down here and work on this bill assuming as it is now because the governors have not come out publicly to change their position. The traditional rulers and NEC have not sat down publicly to change their positions.

“When I looked at the bill, it contained so many good things, but these two things, derivation and VAT are not something that many of us will agree to”.

However, DAILY POST reports that the bills that were presented by President Bola Tinubu passed second reading on Thursday.

I’m not against tax reform bills – Ndume identifies two contentious areas