Mr Taiwo Oyedele, a tax expert, urges President Muhammadu Buhari to decline assent to the National Housing Fund (Establishment) Act 2018 passed by the National Assembly.
Oyedele, Head of Tax and Corporate Advisory Services in PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), West Africa, made the appeal in an interview with Daybreak.ng on Friday in Lagos.
Daybreak recalls that the revised National Housing Fund (NHF) Bill was passed on Feb. 18 by the National Assembly and is awaiting presidential assent to repeal the 1992 NHF Act.
The tax expert said that the revised bill was regressive and failed to get the basic input of various stakeholders.
“The President should send the bill back to the National Assembly, and the National Assembly should engage all stakeholders.
“They do not have entitlement to Nigeria than the rest of us.
“They should carry everybody along, from labour to workers, employers, insurance companies, bankers and PFAs, all the groups that they are planning to put the burden upon” he said.
According to Oyedele, making all employers liable to deduct and remit the contributions monthly without a threshold would worsen the ease of doing business and Nigeria’s paying taxes ranking.
The tax expert said that the revised bill also failed to address the shortcomings of the 1992 NHF Act on the issue of land ownership and titles as well as the current Land Use Act.
Oyedele said that increasing the tax burden of contributors without addressing other fundamental issues like land registration and legal framework for real estate investment trusts was inconsistent with the 2017 National Tax Policy.
He said that imposition of the 2.5 per cent levy on cement was a tax on property development which would make housing even less affordable.
The expert said the bill would also have negative impact on the capital market, saying banks and insurance companies setting aside 10 per cent of their profits for NHF investment would reduce returns to shareholders.
“It also means that funds will be forcefully diverted from other uses and result to less liquidity and higher cost of borrowing.
“Pensioners will be worse off as the return of two per cent per annum on their contributions to be withdrawn after attaining 60 years of age or 35 years of service means their investment will be completely eroded,” he said.
Oyedele urged the President to reject the bill to ensure fairness, inclusiveness and sustainable national growth and development.
