The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, (RMAFC), has challenged the constitutionality of proposals made by President Bola Tinubu in his proposed tax reform Bills.
The RMAFC is said to have submitted a 9-page Memorandum, in which it opposed the tax reform proposals as submitted to the 10th National Assembly by President Tinubu.
It was gathered that the RMAFC, in challenging the tax reform proposals, argued that the Commission is the only body constitutionally empowered to determine revenue-sharing between the three-tiers of government in Nigeria.
According to reports, the Memorandum, signed by the Commissions chairman, Mohammed Bello Shehu, outlined a range of legal, constitutional, and technical objections to the proposed reforms.
According to the Memorandum,
The Constitution designates RMAFC as the final authority on matters of revenue allocation; as such, no Act of Parliament, including the VAT Act, can infringe upon this constitutional responsibility. Any such attempt would constitute a violation of the Constitution.
RMAFC called on the administration to respect its role as the exclusive arbiter in developing fair revenue allocation formulas, arguing that any deviation from its constitutional duties could undermine the integrity of the Commission and compromise the principles of justice in revenue sharing.
The Commission called for an approach to Value-Added Tax (VAT) allocation that accounts for the unique nature of VAT as a consumption tax. It proposed a formula developed by RMAFC that would ensure equitable distribution among Federal, State, and local governments.
