NEWS ANALYSIS: Of Tax Bills and engagements
Confession: I do not understand the excitement over the proposed Tax Laws. The process of law making is clear – the Executive or members of the Legislature submit their proposed Bill to the 2 arms of the National Assembly. A crucial part of the process requires stakeholder consultation and engagement, principally through public hearings.
As far as we know, this process has not been abrogated. So for those who want more consultations, ample opportunity for this will be available. Until that process is circumvented and or completed, there really is no need for all the name-calling and ethnic-coloured arguments over it.
The Northern Govs and Leaders were wrong to have issued a statement asking for the Bills to be stood down. As has now transpired, many of them do not even know the details in the Bills before taking a position on it. That screams pre-medication.
It was also wrong of the NEC, headed by the Vice-President, to have made a public statement requesting that the Bills be withdrawn. They would have been better served by stating the areas they wished to be amended and let the Legislature know this. By making that public statement, they effectively positioned themselves against the President. I do not think the VP managed this well.
Yet, there is a case for better stakeholder engagement. Perhaps because he did not want to be seen to be teleguiding the process, the President was and has been hands-off. Clearly, this has not helped and he would have been better served been more engaged in the process rather than leaving it solely to technocrats. What has also made this situation worse is that the faces behind the Tax Bills are all from the SW, thus making it easy to give it a coloration it scarcely deserves.
It is also bad comms strategy to burden the Chairman of the committee, TaiwoOyedele, with solely communicating what the Bills are about. The man is a thoroughbred professional who knows his onions. But Is he the only who can speak and represent the Committee? Where are the other 79 members?
For what it’s worth, there is the need to review and amend our tax codes. Reducing the multiple taxes that corporates are faced with is critical for economic growth. Eliminating taxes that burden the poor in our societies is important. If the law achieves these while being equitable, I for one will be happy.
Ultimately, we should let the NASS do its duty and do right by Nigerians. That’s where all energies should be focused on!
