ABUJA — THE Senate is probing claims by the chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui that GSM provider, MTN, and the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) company have not been paying tax on account of the five-year exemption granted them. The FIRS boss had told the Public Accounts Committee of the upper chambers of the National Assembly that the tax exemption was consistent with their status as pioneering companies, and in compliance with the law.
The Senate Committee Hearing Room Two, venue of the opening hearing, was engulfed by a noise when Mrs. Omoigui cited MTN and LNG as some of the companies enjoying the tax exemption incentive for five years beginning from the year it commenced operation. The noise was sparked off by the mention of MTN which has reportedly made billions in profits within three years. Other GSM networks may be in the same shoes with the MTN. However, the FIRS documentation, which is expected to be submitted to the committee at the next session will disclose identities of other companies enjoying tax exemption.
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Senator Mamman Bello Ali, had asked the FIRS Chairman to document all such companies enjoying the tax exemption regime and state whether the incentive was a matter of government policy or law. The purpose, as understood, is to enable the Senate Committee find out whether government had acted in breach of the law based on mere policy; or whether there is actually a law backing such exemption.
Senator Ali said: “If anybody thinks somebody should not pay tax by policy, it cannot work. If there is a law that says there should be no waiver (exemption) and they had gone ahead to waive, let me assure you that if they now try to seek amendment of the law, you will see how Nigerians will carry placards, stones and so on in protest.”
However, the Public Accounts Committee chairman said the Senate would take up the matter if it was discovered that the policy violated existing law on tax payment.
He said the Senate would support the FIRS in its bid for more funding, provided such request was backed with “literature, scientific basis of understanding, so that it would not just be intellectual gymnastics, which would end up fetching the service a meagre sum.”
He, however, pointed out that the FIRS must ensure that critical players of the economy are sampled in a bid to track down those who have defaulted in payment of tax. According to him, “National Assembly has no problem with payment of tax. We want you to sample critical players of the economy that have defaulted in payment before we can move in to address the issue of funding to assist the FIRS.
