The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, has assured
Nigerians that the incremental changes to Nigeria’s tax laws do not
mean that there will be an increase in taxes.
She gave the assurance on Wednesday, while ddressing State House
correspondents after the council approved the Finance Bill
2020.
The minister explained that the bill will ensure improvements in
tax laws while reducing some taxes for small and medium
enterprises.
She told journalists that the 2019 Finance Bill actually reduced
taxes from 30% to 20% for businesses with a turnover of between N25
million and N100 million.
“When we say incremental changes, its making improvements in the
tax law. It doesn’t mean increasing taxes. So, what we are doing in
the Finance Bill for 2020, has no increases. There will be no VAT
increase, VAT remains at 7.2%,” Ahmed said.
“And I gave an example of the changes we are making in the tax
law.. in the last Finance Bill 2019, we reduced from 30% to 20% for
enterprises that have turnover of between 25million to 100 million
and we also moved taxes from 30% to 0% for enterprises that have
turnover of 25 million and below which means they pay no taxes.
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“What we are doing in the Finance Bill 2020 is to further remove
the education tax of 2% for that lower category of enterprises that
have a turnover of 25 million and below.
“So, when we say incremental, we mean gradually making changes
so, the changes could be up or down. But for now, with the economic
slowdown, our assessment is that this is the time to cut down on
taxes, to not increase taxes at all and also to not increase
levies”.
Meanwhile, the 2020 Finance Bill will now be sent to parliament
for assent.
Other memos approved at the FEC include a 216-page report from
the Ministry of Works and Housing, detailing progress made in the
government’s mass housing initiatives, reports from the ministers’
visits to their states to assess the damage done to their states
after the #EndSARS protests and a clarification from the Minister
of Health that the strange illnesses recorded in many parts of the
country is still being investigated by the Nigeria Centre for
Disease Control (NCDC).