Akin Alabi, the House of Representatives lawmaker representing Egbeda/Ona-Ara federal constituency in Oyo state, has registered his disapproval to the newly-approved value-added tax, VAT increase by the Federal Government.
After the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Ahmed Zainab had announced the approval of the council for the increase of VAT rate from 5 per cent to 7.2 per cent.
However, the new VAT rate will still be subjected to assent of the National Assembly.
Hon. Alabi vowed to argue against it whenever it is presented before NASS.
“I stand against the PROPOSED increase of VAT. For your information, it has not been increased yet. It is a proposal by the executive which will have to be debated on the floor of the National Assembly. I will argue against it and I’m sure it will be thrown out”, he had stated on his social media handle earlier today.
I stand against the PROPOSED increase of VAT. For your information, it has not been increased yet. It is a proposal by the executive which will have to be debated on the floor of the National Assembly. I will argue against it and I’m sure it will be thrown out.
— Oloye Akin Alabi (@akinalabi) September 12, 2019
Federal Government initially hinted the 8th NASS on VAT rate in March when the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, and Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Babatunde Fowler, appeared before then Senate Committee on Finance for an interactive session over 2019 to 2021 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, MTEF/ FSP.
Their reason was that that the new national minimum wage will further increase the size of the 2019 budget already in deficit.
But, since the new minimum wage from N18,000 to N30,000 was approved by the National Assembly, it is yet to be implemented for civil servants.
