The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning has said going forward, all national budgets will be accompanied with finance bills to enable government realize its revenue potentials.
“We planned that, going forward, the annual budget will always be accompanied by finance bills to enable the realisation of revenue projections,” a statement from Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, the Special Adviser, Media & Communication to the minister quoted the minister to have said.
“Future finance bills will therefore also provide us with additional opportunities to incrementally improve the fiscal policy and regulatory/legal environment in order to further strengthen our domestic capital market, and ultimately ensure sustained and inclusive growth and development,” she stated further.
It is not immediately clear how future finance bills would be but if government is targeting finance bills as channels to further introduce higher taxes as a means of raising revenue, it might disrupt long term planning of businesses as businesses won’t know what to expect every year.
Mrs. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, commended the President for ensuring that “the strategic objectives in the finance law recognize the crucial relationship between fiscal policy, the regulatory environment and the strong capital market we all seek to effect in Nigeria”.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday signed the 2019 Finance Bill into law. The Bill has far reaching consequences on the economy and citizens.
The Law raises value added tax from 5 percent to 7.5 percent but also removes taxes for businesses with a turnover of not more than N25 million. It also reduces the corporate tax rate for MSMEs from 30 percent to 20 percent for Small firms (with turnover of between N25m and N100m per annum.); and exempting micro-firms (with turnover of less than N25m per annum) among others.
