This question is prompted by the news of the huge tax bill (N248 million, reduced from an initial sum of N1.2 billion) recently slammed by the Tax Appeal Tribunal on a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Chief J.B. Daudu, SAN. Reportedly made up of arrears of Withholding Tax and Value Added Tax, for the years 2010 – 2017, the said assessment is virtually unprecedented, at least for a professional – let alone a legal practitioner of Chief Daudu’s stature. Accordingly, few would be surprised if he fights it all the way to the Apex Court. I believe the news brings to the fore, the taxing powers of the National Assembly under the Constitution. This appears to be straight forward enough, at least if the provisions of Item 59 of the Exclusive Legislative List are anything to go by. Read along with Section 4(3) of the Constitution, they simply state that the National Assembly shall have the exclusive power to legislate on “taxation of profits, incomes and capital gains, save as otherwise provided for by the Constitution”. Pursuant to this provision, the Assembly enacted the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment, etc.) Act, 2007, which establishes the Federal Board of Inland Revenue, and empowers it to enforce the provisions of the seven different tax laws, inter alia, listed in the Schedule thereto. These include the Companies Income Tax Act, the Petroleum Profits Tax Act, the Personal Income Tax Act, the Capital Gains Tax Act, the Value Added Tax Act, the Stamp Duty Act, the Taxes and Levies (Approved List for Collection) Act.