The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has said that the new tax law does not permit revenue collection by third parties including Alpha-Beta Consulting.
But he argued that President Bola Tinubu does not require a law to bring consultants to collect revenue like Lagos State.
The tax expert and Chairman said this on Wednesday while clarifying the controversial tax bill on Arise TV.
In Chapter 3, the General Administrative Provisions Part 16 Section 68 provides that “Anything done required by an agency in pursuant, a tax authority may deploy technology to automate process… including a third party payment processing platform or computer application to collect or remit taxes…”
The section has caused controversy with some critics alleging plots to use Alpha-Beta to collect and remit revenue on behalf of the government.
Alpha-Beta is the revenue consulting firm for the Lagos government and allegedly linked to President Tinubu.
Oyedele said, “If you want to pay your taxes, one of the things we have in those bills is to outlaw cash payment of taxes. We don’t want people putting roadblocks with nails and wood to collect taxes.
“We want people to be able to collect taxes using USSD, bank cards, money transfers and other technologies. These will require applications by a third party because the Federal Inland Revenue Service does not develop applications.”
Oyedele said payment systems anywhere in the world are done by independent people who act as third parties to the taxpayer and the government.
On the transparency behind the process of selecting the third party, the chairman said, “Just to be clear, we haven’t said that third parties will collect taxes.”
He argued that the third parties provide technology and solutions that are linked up with tax payers system through Application Programming Interface (APIs).
Oyedele explained, “I know where this is coming from, people are saying maybe the president wants to bring in Alpha-Beta to the federal government and replicate what is being done in Lagos.
“When Lagos did Alpha-Beta, did they announce to anyone? Why do you need a law to bring in a consultant if you want to do that?
“I keep saying this, Mr. president has not for once asked us to do anything. He has given us 100 per cent freedom to do every single thing we recommended in those bills.
“We said you cannot use a consultant for assessment. you cannot use them for collection. The only thing you can use consultants for is to tell them to teach how to use artificial intelligence or lecture.”