Harmonized Tax Law Bill In Circulation Is Fake – Oyedele

By Ayodele Oni

Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, has revealed that members of the executive arm of government that were involved in the process of the tax reform are yet to have access to the certified harmonised version of the bills.

Oyedele declared on Channels Television morning brief on Monday that the tax law documents currently in circulation are fake.

The nation’s tax boss specifically said that the documents widely circulated on social media and reported by some media organisations do not represent the authentic versions of the tax laws.

Oyedele, who stated these while dismissing claims that there exit some discrepancies between the tax reform bills passed by the National Assembly and the ones gazetted, insisted that there was no official basis yet for comparing what was passed by the National Assembly with what was gazetted, saying that the harmonised bills was certified by the Clerk of the National Assembly.

According to him; “Before anyone can say that there is a difference between what was gazetted and what was passed, we have what has not been gazetted. We don’t have what was passed.

“The official harmonised bills certified by the clerk, which the National Assembly sent to the President, we don’t have a copy to compare. Only the lawmakers can say authoritatively what was sent.

“It should be the harmonised version certified by the clerk. Even I cannot say that I have it. I only have what was presented to Mr President to sign.

“What was in circulation and widely reported by a lot of media organisations is actually fake,” Oyedele insisted.

While addressing concerns over how such confusion could arise, Oyedele described the situation as a systemic and procedural problem as against pointing accusing fingers at any individual or institution.

In the words of Oyedele; “It’s a process and system issue that has to be addressed, and I don’t think it is about finger-pointing or looking for who to blame.

“If you think about the process today, there are a lot of stages with manual hands-on that anything can go wrong”.

Oyedele therefore warned against assumptions that the presence of top government officials at the signing of the bills guaranteed full scrutiny of the documents.

According to him; “Just because the President, the Speaker, the Senate President, and others were present when the law was signed does not mean you can read 400 pages on the spot and confirm everything was fine.”

Oyedele therefore urged the public to exercise patience and await the outcome of ongoing investigations into what may have gone wrong in the harmonization and gazetting process of the new tax laws.