By Akinola Ajibade
From the House of Representatives came revelation yesterday( Thursday) that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation NNPC made series of deductions from petroleum profit tax in order to pay for fuel subsidy.
Also, the lawmakers said that many government agencies are involved in self assessment of their income tax, as against the expressed provisions of the nation's tax laws.
The Chairman, committee onTaxes,Hon Mustapha Aliyu and and other members made the discovery while engaging the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service FIRS Mr Mohammed Nami on the issue.
However, the tax agency said that its responsibility was to collect revenue for the Federal Government, not keeping records of how monies are expended.
Speaking further, the Committee urged FIRS to fish out companies and agencies, which engage in deductions of taxes meant for the government.
According to a member of the committee, Hon. Benjamin Kalu( Abia APC), some government agencies may have been involved in racketeering and as a result, would not want the deals to come public knowledge.
The members, also asked the government abolish subsidy regime, claiming that the money, which the country is paying in order to subsidize petroleum products is outrageous.
Another member of the probe panel Hon. Sergius Ogun (Edo, PDP) said that “from the records it is obvious that the government is paying for what the citizens are not consuming in Nigeria.”
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