Two senior officials of the Federal government, on Monday, defended the move by President Bola Tinubu’s administration to tax profits by banks arising from foreign exchange transactions.
The Federal government’s move on one-off tax is contained in the proposed amendment to the 2023 Finance Act before the National Assembly.
Speaking at the joint session of the National Assembly Committee on Finance chaired by Senator Sani Musa, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun and the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue (FIRS), Zach Adedeji, assured the lawmakers that there is nothing untoward in the Federal government’s intention, which they both described as normal.
Edun told the Committee that it is normal global practice to redistribute such profit to benefit the poor.
In his own submission, Adedeji declared that taxing windfalls from banks would go a long way in balancing the economic inequality in the country especially after the government introduced its harmonization policy of the foreign exchange market.
On concern by finance and capital market operators that the proposed tax could instigate a deft move by banks to under declare profit, Edun urged the lawmakers to give the banks management benefit of doubt.
He also allayed fears that banks could ultimately push the cost to their customers.
