New Telegraph

JTB, FIRS kick against NIPOST reform bill

*Say provisions on stamp duty amounts to double taxation

The Joint Tax Board (JTB) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) have kicked against some aspects of the Nigerian Postal Commission Bill, saying the bill if passed in its current form, would empower the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) to encroach on their responsibilities and impose double taxation on Nigerians.

 

The opposition came at a public hearing the Bill for an Act to repeal the Nigeria Postal Service Act and establish the Nigerian Postal Commission and make provisions for the development and regulation of postal services in the country. The public hearing was organised by the Joint Committees on Communications of the Senate and House of Representatives.

 

The bill, sponsored by the Chairman, Senate  Committee on Communications, Senator Oluremi Tinubu,  proposes an expansion of the current objectives of NIPOST, to cover implementation of a National Postal Policy, encouraging local and foreign investment in the postal industry, protection of rights and interests of service providers in the sector, provision of postal services to areas and towns that were hitherto not sustainable, promoting small and medium enterprises in the sector, while engendering innovation, integration and inclusion in keeping up with current trends.

 

The bill also provides for the unbundling of NIPOST by splitting the roles of the Nigerian Postal Service also referred to as the Public Postal Operator (PPO), whose responsibility shall be the provision of Universal Postal Services in Nigeria; and the Nigerian Postal Commission (NPC), another corporate body which shall have the sole responsibility of regulating and supervising the postal sector.

 

In a memorandum presented to the committee, FIRS said that if the bill is passed in its current firm, it will create multiple tax agencies at the federal level.

 

Similarly, the Joint Tax Board (JTB) said that as the apex body for tax administration in Nigeria, it has a statutory mandate to ensure uniformity, harmony and efficiency in the administration of taxes in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

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