President Muhammadu Buhari Monday in State House signed the 2020 Finance Bill into law. This is sequel to its passage by the National Assembly and subsequent forwarding by the legislature to the President for assent.
Recall that President Buhari, while presenting the 2020 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly, had also presented the Finance Bill and said: “This Finance Bill has five strategic objectives, in terms of achieving incremental, but necessary, changes to our fiscal laws.
“These objectives are; Promoting fiscal equity by mitigating instances of regressive taxation; Reforming domestic tax laws to align with global best practices; Introducing tax incentives for investments in infrastructure and capital markets; Supporting Micro, Small and Medium-sized businesses in line with our Ease of Doing Business Reforms; and Raising Revenues for Government.
“The draft Finance Bill proposes an increase of the VAT rate from five per cent to 7.5 per cent , as such, the 2020 Appropriation Bill is based on this new VAT rate,” he added.
With the assent, there will be more revenue to finance key government projects especially in the areas of health, education and critical infrastructure.
We introduced the Bill alongside the 2020 Budget, to:
-Reform Nigeria’s tax laws to align with global best practices;
-Support MSMEs in line with our Ease of Doing Business Reforms;
-Incentivize investments in infrastructure and capital markets;
-Raise Government revenues.— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) January 13, 2020
I thank the leadership and members of the Ninth National Assembly for the hard work and support that have gone into the passage of the landmark Deep Offshore and Inland Basin PSC Amendment Bill, and the Finance Bill; both vital to the successful implementation of the 2020 Budget.
— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) January 13, 2020
