Ali Ndume, a federal lawmaker representing Borno South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, has stated that the tax reform bills submitted by President Bola Tinubu are “dead on arrival.”
Ndume urged the President to heed the advice of the National Economic Council (NEC) and the Northern Governors’ Forum and to promptly withdraw the bills.
“If it goes on like that, I can tell you that it will be dead on arrival. We don’t need to study the bills,” the unsparingly blunt lawmaker known for his unconventional stance on national issues said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday.
Ndume, one of the longest-serving lawmakers in the National Assembly, stated that the Federal Government should focus on reducing the tax burden on Nigerians rather than increasing it.
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“The general thing is that Nigerians are not willing to talk about or pay any tax now considering the (economic) situation we are in now,” he said.
“Nigerians are willing to pay taxes but they can only pay taxes when they can afford it. Right now, people are struggling to survive. Let people live first before you start asking them for taxes,” he added.
The senator said “it will be fair to shut the bill down, it is the fairest thing to do”, indicating that he has started campaigning against the bills among his colleagues and he is getting good support to throw out the bills.
Ndume, a member of the President’s party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), remarked that the Tinubu administration should prioritize internal reforms instead of raising taxes on Nigerians.
He said, “What he (Tinubu) needs to do is to withdraw the bill, educate Nigerians and make us understand it. We are representing the people and the people that we are representing have already spoken.
“The governors, the traditional rulers have said that the bill is not good. So, the best thing to do is to immediately withdraw it.
“Right now, what our people are saying is that they don’t want VAT bill, they don’t even want to hear about it. That is why we are going to make it dead on arrival.”
The tax reform bills submitted to the National Assembly have faced sharp criticism, with the 36 state governors urging the President to retract them from the legislature.
Nevertheless, the President has stated that the bills will not be withdrawn, though lawmakers are welcome to make “inputs and necessary changes.”
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