The Senate Committee on Finance has advised the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to suspend the tax waivers being granted to corporate organizations in the country and look at how to substitute it with a rebating system.
The Senate took the position on Monday at a Budget session with Chairman of FIRS, Zacch Adedeji and his team.
The lawmakers led by the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Sani Musa expressed disaffection over the loss of over N17trillion incurred by the country on tax waivers within the last five years.
Senator Musa insisted that the sum lost to tax waivers was mind boggling and an alternative must be sought to stop the drift in revenue loss.
He said: “Your projection of N19trillion as total tax collection for 2024 is good when compared to N11.16trillion achieved in 2023 but the Senate believes that you can can do more even to the tune of N30trillion if required measures are put in place.
“As impressive and encouraging the performance and projections of FIRS are , under your leadership , this Committee and by extension , the Senate , on a serious note , urge you to look at the direction of tax waivers largely being abused with attendant and avoidable losses being incurred on yearly basis .
“Available records show that within the last five years, about N17trillion have been lost by the country to tax waivers.
“It should be suspended and possibly substituted with a rebating system,” he said .
Adedeji assured the lawmakers that to save Nigerians from multiple taxation, the FIRS in conjunction with a Committee put in place by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would review the different taxes which he put at 62 to 8.
He said: “President Bola Tinubu has seen the issue of multiple taxation as a pool of problems that is why he set up the presidential committee on tax reforms and fiscal policy
“As of today in Nigeria, we have 62 types of taxes being collected.
“The sad news about that is that less than eight out of the entire 62, accounted for 97 per cent of the collection.
“We are already consulting and engaging the state government on it.
“At the end of the day, we won’t have more than eight or nine taxes that the state and federal government would be collecting.”
On the controversy trailing Tax Credit Scheme for road construction by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, the FIRS boss insisted that the N2.5trillion earlier committed to it , must be fully implemented before thinking of any fresh one.
He said: “Regarding tax credit, what I said was that the programme is laudable but that the N2.5trillion being spent on it by NNPCL should be exhausted before bringing fresh requests.
“N2.7trillion fresh request being made , should not be entertained because all NNPC revenue should not be spent on roads when the Ministry of Works is there.”