At the moment, the Tax Reform Bill before the National Assembly has become a binary choice: you either support or oppose it—there is no room for neutrality. And if you want to observe how emergency tax reform experts contradict themselves and hear the fallacies behind the proposed bill, look no further than social media.
And yes, these administrators find social media very useful and take the users’ opinions seriously, much more than what they would from an average market woman. They have used Twitter to announce various policies. Like other administrators and news pundits, the Tax Reform chairman, Oyedele, uses his social media account to spread his opinion about the tax proposal. His long epistles on the proposal have pushed people to swallow certain narratives that turned the discussion into a tribal and regional debate.
The interesting thing about social media, like Twitter, is users get to explain themselves in live audio conversations with other users. In many instances, the blind supporters of the proposed bill who seek validation end up exposing the fallacies of the tax bill whenever they are put on a stand. This type of engagement has also prompted more questions than answers for the administrators of this administration.
The initial division was about northern governors rejecting the proposal because of the VAT sharing formula, among other issues raised. Many joined the flock to call out the governors to be more productive because the era of doling out free money was over. Social media was used to debunk this narrative and even pushed the FIRS chairman to change his tone and confirm that VAT is a consumption tax, not a production tax. This confused the flock supporting the narrative.
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Similarly, the rhetoric that northern states want to receive alcohol tax but will not support consuming alcohol was debunked when evidence of alcohol VAT showed it is very little compared to what northern states contribute. This silenced the flock further.
And it is on social media that I understood the division this bill has caused. This happened when one Arise TV pundit tweeted, “On this tax bill, I support President Tinubu.” A user responded, “I have not even read through the bill to know all the contents, but anything that is making Northern politicians cry like this must be something that would expose their rubbish. Those guys are never in the interest of Nigeria or the Northerners. They only care about themselves.” Since then, I could not help but see the clear pattern in the divide. Supporting the bill requires no comprehension, just a dislike or like for a tribe, region or party.
After the bill passed a second reading, some influencers who stood against Tinubu in 2023 were jubilating that the “Oga is teaching them (northerners) politics.” Of course, it gathered a lot of vile comments against the North.
But time has a way of healing things.
The rhetoric that made the best impact on social media was “Have you read the bill?” This brought many influencers, news pundits, and politicians to contribute as they sought validation that they had read the bill. Funny enough, some lawmakers were trolled for saying they had not read the bill. Ndume had to speak of his academic pedigree because of the troll.
I believe it was during this time that many people got the chance to read the bill, and it exposed the lack of understanding of many, especially those promoting the bill based on regional sentiment.
A prominent Twitter user, @stigmatronic, refers to them as “emergency experts.” These pseudo-experts are quickly trapped. One recent instance was not comprehending the difference between goods with zero VAT and those exempted from VAT. Another was not even understanding the concept of the destination principle, which should be used for consumption tax distribution as against the derivation principle. But I will not use the latter against them because even the architects of the bill are struggling with its comprehension.
The Arise TV pundit who earlier supported the bill also benefited from reading the bill. And they quickly ran to social media to protest that Clause 75 of the bill should be removed. But given the polarised nature of the support, one cannot ask for improvements if you support it. You get shifted to the other side because the northerners who oppose it only want a few little things to be addressed.
The push for reading the bill and the trolling against those who have not read it exposed a lot of wrongs about the proposed tax bill. This has pushed the South-East Senate caucus to request further consultations.
The questions about increasing the VAT rate within 12 months have raised concerns. Social media users, including those antagonising the northerners, are turning on Oyedele’s 2019 tweet when he wrote that increasing VAT will increase inflation. Oyedele had to write a long epistle to contradict what he said against Buhari’s regime. But judging by the comments and responses he received, he has lost all credibility in this argument. The worrying part is that the social media handles supporting this bill are reducing by the second.
ASUU, earlier silent on the bill, has joined the naysayers. They believe the tax reform bill would kill tertiary education. I expect them to take on social media to debate much deeper. Debates on issues like inheritance tax, the supremacy clause, and appointing consultants by FIRS and the joint revenue board are ongoing.
This is the beauty of consistency—it turns little effort into lasting success. Some saw the flaws of the tax proposal right from the onset and spoke consistently against it. They trivialised them like they tribalised their positions, but the truth is coming out.
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