Nigerians should not expect new or additional taxes, the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji has assured.
Adedeji gave the assurance on Wednesday when the Chief Executive Officer of Guinness Nigeria, Adebayo Alli, led the management team of the company on a visit to the Revenue House in Abuja.
Adedeji who was quoted by his Special Adviser on Media, Dare Adekanmbi, said the FIRS was focusing on delivering its mandate as part of President Bola Tinubu’s strategic plan to lead the country out of the current economic challenges.
The Chairman said the plan warranted the president to direct that a conducive environment be created for businesses to flourish and grow the economy.
He said the president has given FIRS the directive to work towards achieving a single digit tax in the country, adding that the maximum number of taxes the country would have after the work of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms would be nine.
“For us at FIRS, we have responded to that directive. We want to grow the pie such that even if we are taking the same percentage of the bigger pie, the result will be huge.
“By God’s grace, we will not introduce any new or additional taxes nor increase any form of taxes. We are only determined to increase the pie.
“We have restructured our operations at FIRS in such a way that we would now effectively carry out our duty of assessing, collecting and accounting for taxes.
“We used to have functional types of taxes. But we have identified that the only customers we have are the taxpayers. We have improved the way we relate with our customers by rearranging our operations based on our customers, using their turnover as the basis to categorise them into large, medium and small.
“We did this to actually develop expertise in what we do. Secondly, to provide you with a one-stop shop for your activities. If you are in a large tax group, you only need to go to one office to pay all forms of taxes, including audit and other activities. You don’t need to move from one office to another again.
“The FIRS is here to serve you. Taxpayers are not armed robbers or criminals that we will be chasing about. FIRS is also not a law enforcement organisation. We are partners in progress.
“Taxpayers are one of the trees in our vineyard. The only thing we can do is to ensure they are well watered and pruned so they can bear good fruits for us to have plenty of harvest,” he said.
President Tinubu, he said, introduced the consumer credit scheme recently to increase the purchasing power of Nigerians, to boost the productive capacity of companies and stimulate growth.
He announced that In a couple of days, the consumer credit scheme would be launched, adding that what that would do would be to really set the right fundamentals, most especially for the kind of products sold.
In an economy of Nigeria’s size, he pointed out that it would be extremely difficult not to have a consumer credit scheme, as people would need to eat before they drink.
However, when people have credit to buy things, it would give people more money they can use to drink and relax after work.
Also, he said the president has directed the commencement of a single window platform for logistics at the nation’s ports,so that instead of having to pay in many places, people can now do that through the platform, most especially for big companies like Guinness.
“You know your products before they come into the country. So, you pay before they arrive as the issue of port congestion that delays the time you get your raw materials has been taken care of now,” he said.
In addition, he another bold decision the president has taken was the birth of the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund.
Some of the raw materials bi companies like Guinness are sourcing locally were produced in the Northern part of the country,adding that with the current infrastructure deficit, the cost of moving these materials from one place to another has increased.
“Based on the president’s holistic plan, in the next three years, we will have a very good rail and road transportation network that will make movement of goods and raw materials easy and remove most of the bottlenecks for industries,” he said.
Earlier, Guinness CEO, Alli, reaffirmed the company’s faith in Nigeria with a pledge that the company would continue to do business in the country, notwithstanding the prevailing macro-economic challenges being faced.
“We have come to know FIRS more and also tell you a little bit about who we are as a large taxpayer so you can understand our world, the value we add to Nigeria, despite the macroeconomic situation facing us,” he said.FIRSZaxh Adedeji
He assured the FIRS chairman that Guinness would continue to invest in the country, just as he sought assurances from the tax authority, in terms of the role it would play “in getting the economy back on the right path from the recovery point of view.
