A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has supported the controversial tax reform bills proposed by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
According to him, the bills which have generated concerns especially in the Northern part of the country, would free most people in the region struggling with the burden of taxation.
He shared his thoughts while speaking at a Town Hall meeting organised by the Christian Awareness Initiatives of Nigeria (CHAIN) on Thursday in Kaduna.
The theme of the meeting was “Church and Society: Tax Reform and Matters Arising”.
He said that national issues needed not to take a regional or any other dimension as seen with the tax reform bills.
“Those who are earning less than N800,000 would not be taxed, imagine how many Northerners will be out of the tax.
”If businesses that do not make up to 50 million in a month will also not pay tax, imagine how it will free the economic space for our people.
“More businesses will be created and more people will be employed, in the region that has a high number of unemployed people roaming the streets,” he said.
According to Dogara, the tax reform bills would enable the North to unleash its creative potential.
He, however, said in terms of distribution, the tax reforms would constitute problems for the North.
The former speaker, therefore, said conversation and dialogue needed to be done to reach an understanding on what would be fair between the North and the South.
“I agree totally there are legitimate concerns, but we can’t say as leaders that because the issues are difficult then we won’t do anything about it, that is what we totally disagree with,” Dogara said.
He added that the bill, which states derivation based on attribution, needed to be clearly refined.
According to him, attribution should be based on location of consumption not where the headquarters of where companies are located.
“All these can be clarified. But to say we can’t have a reform in a country where we have 11 tax laws that are summarised into two is not possible.
“Reforms are actually difficult because people resist, but the world itself has marched through change, which we enjoy now as humans because of the daring efforts by people to introduce changes in spite of resistance.
“If we want progress, we must always move from the status quo. It will take courage, leadership, patience and sometimes sacrifice.
”Even if it means we are going to give a lot from the North for Nigeria to move forward, we should be able to do it.
“At some point, we will also demand from the South to also give alot for the North to make progress. That is how we can run as a better country,” Dogara said.