A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ghali Tijani has described the Tax Reform Bills of President Bola Tinubu as anti-people.
Ghali, who is representing Albasu/Gaya/Ajingi Federal Constituency of Kano State in the Green Chamber maintained that the bills are not in tandem with public interests.
TheHintsNews reports that Tinubu recently sent for Bills to the National Assembly for consideration. The bills are: the Nigeria Tax Bill, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill.
While the Bills scaled the second reading on the floor of the Senate last Thursday, the Bills faced serious opposition in the House forcing the leadership to decide to continue consultation before debating the Bill.
But addressing journalists Monday in Abuja, Ghali described the Bill as a capitalist bill and therefore reject the Bill in its entirety.
His words: “We are aware it has gone through first reading and this is the second reading and we understand it is an Executive Bill.
“And most of the members, including me, so many people have an opinion about it. But I was able to have the four bills and digest it to my own understanding and to the level of knowledge.
“However, I have a background in finance, as a student of International Corporate Finance, so I have an idea of what all this is all about.
“The bills actually are not in tandem with public interest and it’s not pro-masses. This is a capitalist bill and for such reason, I, Dr. Ghali Mustafa Tijani, I am rejecting this bill as a member that represents people.
“I’m in the Parliament to ensure that my people are well represented and Nigerians have got all the benefits and dividends of democracy. Therefore, these tax reform bills are capitalistic in nature and are siphoning the poor, so to say.”
When asked to explain what he meant by saying the bill was not pro-masses, the lawmaker noted that the federal government should block revenue leakage rather than taxing Nigerians.
Ghali added: “You see, this is a lazy way of thinking. Nigeria has a lot of opportunities to get revenue and Nigeria is not looking in that direction. Let me give you typical examples.
“Our mineral resources sector has not been tapped adequately. If Nigeria is looking for revenue, they should invest in mineral resources, in mining, and do the necessary investments. The resources definitely will come to the country.
“Similarly, currently, Nigeria is losing a lot of money in terms of revenue, in terms of tax evasion and transfer pricing manipulation.
“And the Nigerian government or the current government should think of blocking such leakages rather than taxing more people in the country or taxing the companies that are willing to invest and employ more labour. Therefore, I think for such reasons, it’s anti-masses.”