The chief whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume, believes that tax breaks for businesses operating in Nigeria should be eliminated.
Ndume spoke during an interactive session with Edun and the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday in Abuja.
Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the presidential tax reform committee, stated in November that tax breaks consume N6 trillion annually.
Ndume stated that bold decisions must be made, noting that some companies “unnecessarily” take advantage of Nigeria.
He said:
“We should be bold enough just like the president is very bold. I still want to use this opportunity to commend him for his speech to say there is no more fuel subsidy. If he were to consult and talk to people the subsidy would have still been there”.
“So if you come out from here declare that no more waivers, [and] it must be appropriated – you as the minister of finance can do that.
“We have to make bold decisions. Some people are taking advantage of Nigerians unnecessarily and benefiting to the detriment of Nigerians.
“We talk about tax credits. It is an expenditure and it should go through the national assembly and there are no two ways about that.”
The chairman of the appropriations committee, Solomon Olamilekan, asked Edun what he thought about corporate rebates.
“What is your take that everybody pays what is expected of them in the government coffers and later asks for the rebate,” he said.
In response, the minister stated that the country could implement a system in which businesses pay their taxes and then receive a rebate.
“I think we are all agreeing that we should try as much as possible to move to a system of exposure so that afterwards a rebate system rather than upfront granting of waivers and other incentives even including interest incentives,” Edun said.
“So if somebody is going to be given a concessional interest rate, they pay the normal interest to carry out the transaction and then get a rebate.”
Olamilekan added that since the country is in a “transitionary” period, tax waivers should be cut by 50 per cent.