Tax bill divides Reps

A bill before the House of Representatives, seeking to compel the Federal Government to make payments to state governments of taxes and duties collected by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and other authorities of the government suffered a setback during the second reading as members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) engaged themselves in war of words.Hardly had the Speaker, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, asked the sponsor of the bill, Honourable Marouf Akinderu-Fatai (ACN Lagos), to lead the debate on the bill for the second reading when another ACN member, Honourable Kamil Akinlabi, stood up to raise a constitutional order.The bill is entitled: 'A bill for an Act to provide for the distribution and payment to state governments of some taxes and duties collected by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) or other authorities of the Federal Government and other matters connected therewith, HB.25-Second reading.'Raising his constitutional order, Honourable Akinlabi maintained that the bill should not be discussed 'because it runs contrary to the provisions of Section 80 sub sections 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.'He added that the monthly allocation from the Federation Account to the three tiers of government had taken care of what the bill was seeking.His submission, however, did not go down well with the Minority Leader, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, an ACN member who berated the submission of Honourable Akinlabi.In his submission, the deputy House Leader, Honourable Leo Ogor said 'Section 80 sub-sections 1, 2, 3 and 4 are inconsequential to the bill under discussion. The Federation Account is distributable, but the Consolidated Revenue Account is different. We should look at it separately. Section 163 of the constitution has given us the full power and we should look at the bill and discuss it again.'At this stage, members had started shouting at the top of their voices against the bill with Honourable Uche Ekwunife asking his colleagues to do away with the bill.Amidst protests,the speaker named a five-member committee to look into the bill.
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