Kehinde Akinpelu, Ilorin.
Member of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Prof Muritala Awodun, has said the tax reform bills will positively impact Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprises as well as Nigerians with low-income bases.
He spoke in an interview with journalists on Tuesday.
He said: “The greatest beneficiaries of the content of the tax reform are the people at the bottom of the pyramid. The poor and small businesses have been greatly exploited in this country while the rich and large businesses have dominantly influenced policies in their favour. This tax reform has, therefore, intentionally changed the paradigm in favor of the majority of Nigerians, and the rich will not like that. The poor are mostly voiceless and largely unable to influence the policies of government to favor them, but this reform is largely in their favor. If you take them one by one, you will see that the clamor for the status quo to remain is coming from the rich political class who, with the present arrangement, has mastered the exploitation of the poor and the downtrodden to their advantage over the years.
“They are not willing to allow this change because they fear it will distort their already mastered system of national wealth sharing. The fight against it, as presently put out there, is nothing fundamentally in the interest of the people; rather, it is a fight to retain the status quo, which is a political interest protection strategy. Rather than look at the ultimate impact and benefits assessment, what the opponents of the bills are talking about are political interests and not economic interests and benefits. Where you see any economic reasons being put forward, it is largely for the benefit of the political class and not in the interests of the mass majority of the people.
“In other words, the fight against these bills is purely political and nothing economic as the bill favors the poorer majority of Nigerians and the small and medium scale businesses.”
Awodun, who also is Director of the Centre for Enterprise and Human Capital Development at Ojaja University, Eiyenkorin, Kwara State, Nigeria, said President Bola Tinubu knows that the political has dominance over the economic considerations in the nation’s polity.
He opined that is why the President is ready to allow for the so-called grey areas to be further discussed.
Awodun said: “President Tinubu also understands the heterogeneous nature of our polity and politics. Moreover, no policy can be satisfactory to all, hence the decision to consider areas considered that needed to be revised. This is for the National Assembly and the nominated parties of the executive, particularly the Ministry of Justice, to look into. The Committee will be guided by whatever the ‘compromised position’ they come up with without jeopardizing the largely significant areas that are of direct benefits to the poor and larger populations of the nation at the bottom of the pyramid.”
The Professor of Business and Entrepreneurship noted that entrepreneurs are finding it extremely difficult to survive in Nigeria.
He stated that the business environment is not very friendly despite the numerous opportunities in the country.
He, therefore, said that until Nigerians address the policy, process, and infrastructure contestations that frustrate business operations, entrepreneurs will continue to complain.
According to him, these are part of what the tax reform bills are meant to address.
Awodun said: “The people against this bill are the people that are exploiting the poorest of the poor of this country to their advantage and will want that arrangement to continue. Anything that will bring some sort of success to the people they will fight because they want the majority of Nigerians to remain poor and uneducated for them to continue to exploit their ignorance and poverty.
“What we have in terms of present arrangements has made the majority of the people.
