THE Senate will engage the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over the six per cent Stamp Duty on rent, lease and others the agency recently introduced.
Most Nigerians see the introduction of the new tax as a further burden on the already impoverished society.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central), told reporters in Abuja at the weekend that even if FIRS had the mandate to generate revenue for the Federal Government through taxes, it cannot afford to be “arbitrary” in doing so.
Bamidele said there is a limit to which the FIRS could exercise discretion in introducing taxes.
He noted that since the Senate Committee on Finance is already mandated to interface with the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning on the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP), he believes the new tax regime would form part of their discussions.
Bamidele said: “FIRS has a mandate to generate revenue for the country within the extant laws and the Act establishing the agency. In doing that, they cannot be arbitrary.
“There is a limit to the discretion they have. I’m convinced that FIRS knows well enough not to do anything outside of their mandate.”
