Tax Reform Bills Will Be Passed, Heavens Won’t Fall — Dickson

The representative of Bayelsa West Senatorial District, Senator Seriake Dickson, has said that the National Assembly will pass the Tax Reform Bills and the heavens will not fall.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ecology and Climate Change revealed his position on the bills to newsmen on Monday.

Dickson, who spoke with newsmen in Abuja, said if his colleagues opposed the Petroleum Industry Bill as proposed by late President Umaru Yar’Adua and got away with it, then the Tax Reform Bills would also find its way.

He told newsmen: “The PIA was passed.

“We wanted 10 percent, which was what Yar’adua proposed.

“They (federal lawmakers) reduced it to 3 percent.

“Heaven did not fall.

“These tax reform bills will pass and the heavens will not fall.

“The Senate has passed the bills for second reading.

“Public hearings will take place and people should get ready to present their positions.

“The tax bill is a proposed law like every other and it has to go through the normal legislative process.

“Right now, taxes from Bayelsa State are paid to Lagos State and I don’t want that to continue.

“When there is consumption of any goods or services from any state, it should be calculated and paid to that state.

“Now there is an opportunity to review the tax laws, to correct the anomalies and that is why I’m in support.

“I know there are states that are feeling that when they apply the new sharing formula, they will earn less.

“It’s for them to raise those issues and bring the statistics.

“I don’t go by sentiments.

“I go by what is right and in the national interest.”