There is no end to the controversies trailing the Tax Reform Bill 2024 as the Chairman, Presidential Committee on Tax Policy and Fiscal Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele says there’s no plan to contract Alpha Beta Consulting LLP, as tax collecting firm for the federal government.
Oyedele gave the assurance in view of the controversies that have trailed the Tax Reform Bills sent to the National Assembly by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Among other suggestions, critics of the demonstration alleged that the president is planning to take over the nation’s tax system through the back door, using Alpha Beta, which has been linked to him.
Reacting to the suggestion, Oyedele while speaking during the Channels Television Town Hall meeting on the Tax Reform Bill 2024, on Thursday said there is no such plan. Perish the thought, he told critics of the bill, describing as aberration a situation where private consultants are collecting taxes on behalf of the government.
Oyedele said of private tax consultants: “In fact, we had a very interesting debate at the committee level. I wanted to put a language in the law that says no government should use a consultant to collect tax. We think that that is one of the biggest problems in our economy today,”
He added, “So I can confirm to you 100 percent there is no plan whatsoever in using consultant to do any of this.”
His position is contrary to what obtains in Lagos state where Alpha Beta, a tax consulting firm, in which President Tinubu is believed to have a substantial interest is collecting taxes on behalf of the state, for a commission.
In 2019, a former Managing Director of the firm, Oladapo Apara claimed that Alpha Beta made over N150 billion as 10 per cent commission for “computing, tracking and reconciling Lagos State’s Internally Generated Revenue within 19 years.
Apara, a former associate of the president, claimed in a suit he filed at the Lagos High Court, that Alpha Beta was his brain child but hijacked from him by Tinubu, a former Governor of Lagos state.
He claimed that the former governor is running the company through proxies.
According to him, the firm has deployed cutting edge technology over the years leading to increase in the revenue generated by the state government, and higher commission for Alpha Beta running into tens of billions of naira.
The state is believed to collect an annual Internal Generated Revenue, IGR, of over N500 billion.
Tinubu who ruled the state between 1999 and 2007 has been accused of making a substantial amount from the state government through Alpha Beta.
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