Tax Reform Bills: Ndume threatens to leave APC

"I told you I am very close to Tinubu. I don't want him to fail and that is why I am taking some of these insults. If not, look, I can leave the party."

The Borno South senator, Ali Ndume, has said he would leave the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), if the leadership of the party allows him.

He said he ought to have left the APC before now but stayed back because of his closeness to President Bola Tinubu and that he doesn’t want the president to fail.

Mr Ndume said this on Thursday when he appeared on Channels Television to discuss his grievances with the tax reform bills proposed by President Tinubu.

“I told you I am very close to Tinubu. I don’t want him to fail and that is why I am taking some of these insults. If not, look, I can leave the party.

“I can leave the party. The party has even given me an offer that I can go if I want. I can apply to them to let me go if they can give me approval and I will go,” he said.

Mr Ndume was removed as Senate Chief Whip in July, following a letter from Abdullahi Ganduje, the APC national chairman, and Basiru Ajibola, the party’s national secretary.

In the letter, the APC leaders referenced an interview Mr Ndume granted where he criticised the Tinubu administration. The party leaders consequently recommended that the Senate relieve him (Ndume) of his position.

The APC also advised Mr Ndume to quit the ruling party if he wishes rather than criticise the administration of a president who is its member.

Mr Ndume later apologised for the action and promised not to criticise President Tinubu’s administration again.

Grouse with reforms

During the interview on Channels Television, Mr Ndume described the proposed tax reform bills as “giving somebody something with right hand and taking it back with left hand.”

The senator explained that part of his disagreement with the bills was that they would make companies that will pay higher taxes to increase the prices of goods and services and, therefore, make living inconvenient for the masses.

“Let me take it one after the other but they may have different opinions. When you say those earning N800,000 below do not pay VAT – on what? Do you exclude him from paying VAT from the goods that he will buy in the market? And then the corporate tax goes up. Now they transfer the cost or the taxes over to the consumer. So, are you helping him,” he queried.

Mr Ndume said Dangote Industries Limited may increase the price of goods and services for Nigerians when the company’s tax is higher.

“Even today, the price of cement goes up and that means consumers will have to pay more. If you tax Dangote for his refined products, it means he will add that cost to the cost per litre. So, if you are saying if you’re earning below N800,000 you will not pay tax, what of those people that are below that level,” he added.

Professionals advice

Mr Ndume said he employed the services of professionals and lecturers to review the tax reform bills. And they all opposed the bills.

“I have studied this thing. I have given it to the professionals, even the lecturers of those that are promoting it, those people that taught them. I approached some of them and they said ‘look this tax reform is good, it is good to do tax reform but not this one’.” he said.

The senator also said he was suspicious of the way the bills passed the second reading in the Senate.. He said the legislative action should have been thorough.

“Sit down and do it comprehensively and break it down! Why the hurry? There is a big suspicion. Why the hurry? They are in too much of a hurry. From the government’s end there’s a hurry in it,” Mr Ndume said.

The Bills

The four bills are the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill, 2024 -SB.583; The Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) BILL, 2024- SB.584; The Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, 2024-SB.585; and the Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024 – SB.586.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Senate passed the second reading of the bills on Thursday. They were, thereafter, referred to a committee to review in six weeks.

Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, who sponsored the bills in the Senate, said they seek to ensure uniformity in the country’s tax revenue collection system.

“Nigeria’s tax reforms bill is a significant move to overhaul the country’s tax system. These bills aim to simplify the tax landscape, reduce the burden on small businesses and streamline how taxes are collected.

“In broad terms, the four bills seek to ensure uniformity in tax revenue administration in Nigeria in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, eliminate the incidence of double taxation across the country, deploy taxation as a tool to encourage private sector investments in critical industries and boost individual disposal incomes through targeted tax exemptions as captured in the various bills,” he said.