PRESIDENT John Magufuli has issued a seven-day ultimatum to tax defaulters to settle their obligations lest they face the wrath of the law.
The ultimatum comes in the wake of
recent revelation that over 349 containers ‘vanished’ from inland
container depots without paying requisite duties to the government. Dr
Magufuli sounded the warning at the State House in Dar es Salaam at a
meeting with the business community in which he also assured them of
favourable business and investment environment.
“The government recognizes the role of
the private sector as a catalyst of economic growth and I encourage you
to exploit available opportunities for the betterment of the economy at
large,” the president remarked. He expressed concerns on the other hand
that some dishonest businesspeople were cheating the government of taxes
and warned of tough action against them.
“The country has been facing limited
funds to carry out its obligations due to tax evasion by a number of
traders as well as swindling of public funds by some civil servants,” he
noted with concerns. He added; “Since assuming the presidency (on
November 5) I have found out that no funds were disbursed for
development projects for the past six months.
It is only this month that we have
dished out 120bn/-.” According to Dr Magufuli, disbursement of money for
other charges (OC) in public institutions was also troubling the
government, almost six months since the budget for financial year
2015/2016 was endorsed by the National Assembly.
The president pledged to work closely
with the private sector to boost revenues, stressing however that he
will not tolerate deceitful business people during the Fifth Phase
Government.
“When I was seeking votes for this
office I neither sought nor received a single penny from any
businessperson and this should send a clear message to you that I want
to work with honest people,” Dr Magufuli said matter of-factly.
Dr Magufuli thus urged them to operate
their trade in line with existing laws and regulations of the land for
the interest of majority Tanzanians. He went on to caution the trend by
some wealthy people in the society fond of harassing the have-nots that
their days were numbered.
“In the same development, I urge you to
bring to my attention or the Chief Secretary any public servant who will
be frustrating your business ventures. “My government will see to it
that there is favourable environment for the private sector through
capacity building and scrapping of nuisance taxes,” he stressed.
Dr Magufuli said he was aware that there
were numerous taxes and levies which were burdening both traders and
farmers countrywide and pledged to review them. “In Kagera Region for
instance, coffee farmers are being charged 26 different levies and this
forces them to smuggle the cash crop to neighbouring Uganda. These are
among issues to be solved,” he pledged before the business community.
The president as well urged local
investors to explore investment opportunities they can exploit; noting
that the government will support such ventures. “I will feel proud to
see local investors venturing in industries such as processing of
minerals, fish, leather and other resources that the country is endowed
with,” he remarked. Dr Magufuli was irked that despite Tanzania being
the only producer of Tanzanite in the world, India and Kenya were the
leading exporters of the gemstone.
He mentioned other ventures which could
be utilized by local business community as revitalization of former
industries which have collapsed as well as setting up of new ones.
“You should turn up for all
opportunities that are available even in the natural gas sector; there
have been this talk that local investors are not capable of investing in
this area but I dare you to go on since no government can prosper
without empowering its people,” he stressed.
Speaking at the same occasion, the
Chairman of Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), Mr Reginald
Mengi, said the business community had a lot of trust in President
Magufuli in solving issues affecting the economy.
He appealed to Dr Magufuli to amend the
Prevention and Combating of Corruption Act to give more powers to the
anti-corruption watchdog, stating that graft was the leading obstacle to
development in the country. Dr Mengi mentioned some of challenges
facing the business community as numerous taxes, poor infrastructure in
some areas and unreliable power, among others.
Meanwhile KATARE MBASHIRU reports that
Tanzania Freight Forwarders Association (TAFFA) has declared that it
will revoke the membership of people who will evade tax at ports
including publishing their names in local newspapers.
The association said it will further
reveal the names of people or companies evading tax and disclose their
names in all ports so that they are barred from importing any shipping
container from outside the country.
Speaking at a news conference in Dar es
Salaam yesterday, TAFFA president Stephen Ngatunga condemned the acts by
unscrupulous business tycoons who submitted false declarations in the
tax ledger of the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).
The decision to issue a termination of
membership alert came just a few days after President John Magufuli
suspended the TRA boss, Rished Bade and eight other senior officials of
the tax watchdog over 349 missing shipping containers that evaded tax
amounting to 80bn/- in government revenue.
Mr Ngatunga commended the government’s
efforts in cracking the whip against people who were evading tax at the
Dar es Salaam port promising to help in revealing their identities.
“It is a shame to hear that 349
containers are missing and we are ready to reveal the names of people
and companies involved in this syndicate should we prove beyond
reasonable doubt that they did not pay tax,’’ said TAFFA Vice- President
Mr Edward Urio.
According to Mr Urio, their association
was aware that there were many people who were not paying tax but did
not take any action because they were not receiving any cooperation from
TRA and the Ministry of Finance.
“At some point we conducted a meeting
with the then Finance Minister, Mr William Mgimwa (who is now dead) who
was very cooperative but later we did not receive any cooperation by his
successor when we submitted our queries on tax evasion.
TAFFA was yesterday convinced by the
government led by Dr Magufuli on the way it dealt with people evading
tax at the country’s major port. Last week, TRA commissioner and other
senior officials were suspended following a surprise visit by the Prime
Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa, in the wake of ‘disappearance’ from the
TRA tax ledger of 349 containers leading to a loss of over 80bn/- loss
in government revenue.
The move widely won approval by some
economists and other citizens who expressed hope for a new Tanzania. On
Thursday, TAFFA president described the move as timely and the right
path towards self-sufficiency. He said his association would continue
working with the government in a move to ensure that there was proper
tax compliance.
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