President Bola Tinubu. Photo: Radio Nigeria archive
President Bola Tinubu has signed 4 Executive Orders to address the series of lacuna identified in the tax policies of the previous administration.
The Special Adviser to the President Special, Communications, and Strategy, Mr Dele Alake, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents on the objectives of the Orders.
The Orders affect the Finance Act, the Customs Excise Tariff, the suspension of 5 percent Excise tax on telecommunication services, and the newly-introduced Green Tax by on Single Use Plastics.
Towards the end of the tenure of the last administration, a number of tax regimes were introduced to ostensibly generate revenue, promote health, and protect the environment.
Although the current administration sees the intention as noble, it notes that some sections of the tax regimes are frustrating the Policy on Ease of Doing Business.
The urge, therefore, to achieve the objectives of the Ease of Doing Business Policy propelled President Tinubu to sign the 4 Executive Orders, as explained by the Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications, and Strategy, Mr Dele Alake.
“The essence is just to ensure that negative impact of any economic dynamic or policy is reduced to the barest minimum and ensure that life is less difficult for the average Nigerian, and the government will continue to look out for the interest of the greater good of the greatest number of Nigerians”, he explained.
The affected tax regimes are the deferment of the commencement dates of the 90-day ultimatum for defaulting businesses to pay their taxes, as contained in the Finance Act 2023.
The alteration is the shift of the ultimatum from 28th May to 1st September, to make up the the full 90 days required by the Act.
According to Mr Alake, the 2nd Order is similar to the first one.
“This has also shifted the commencement date of the tax changes from March 27, 2023, to August 1, 2023, and also in line with the National Tax Policy”, Mr Alake added.
The 3rd Order suspends the 5 percent Excise Tax on telecommunication services and the Excise Duties escalation on locally-manufactured products.
The 4th also suspends the newly-introduced Green Tax by way of Excise Tax on Single Use Plastics, including plastic containers and bottles, as well as the Import Tax Adjustment Levy on vehicles with 2.0 litre engines.
Mr Alake stressed that the government considered business owners, local and foreign investors as critical engines in its focus on achieving higher GDP growth and appreciable reduction in unemployment rate.
Reporting by Abdullah Bello; Editing by Adullahi Lamino