The Federal Executive Council (FEC) Wednesday approved the draft Finance Bill 2020 for onward transmission to the National Assembly for passage into law.
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the weekly FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
She said the bill, which was presented in a memo by the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, with support from the National Fiscal Policy Reform Committee, seeks to support the 2021 budget and make incremental changes to tax and other fiscal laws leading to a successful implementation of next year’s budget.
“You recall that we did a fiancé bill in 2019, through these finance bills, what we are seeking to do is to make incremental changes to tax laws relating to customs excise as well as other fiscal laws, to support the implementation of annual budgets.
“When the President presented the 2021 budget to the parliament, he did direct that the 2020 finance bill will also follow to support the budget proposals,” she said.
The minister said the incremental changes referred to in the bill does not mean increasing taxes but an improvement in the tax law, stressing that the country’s Value Added Tax (BAT) remains at 7.5 percent.
“This is not the time to increase taxes.Giving details of the bill, Ahmed said: “Through this finance bill, what we are seeking to do is to make incremental changes to tax laws relating to Customs and Excise as well as other fiscal laws to support the implementation of annual budget. When Mr. President presented the 2021 budget to the parliament he did direct that the 2020 Finance Bill will also follow to support the budget proposals.
“We are working on implementing current fiscal reforms in line with the Multi-year Medium Term framework and over time we hope that this Finance Bills, that the fiscal space will be reformed on an incremental basis,” she said.
The minister said the Finance Bill 2020 covers how to have adequate macro-economic strategies, attract investments that would grow the economy on a sustainable basis, create jobs, and accelerate domestic revenue, among others.