THERE are more than 600 tour companies operating in the country, most being based in Arusha, but a great number of them have been found to evade taxes, despite earning billions from their activities.
That was revealed here by the Chairman
of Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO), Mr Willy Chambulo,
when the Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Philipo Mpango, met and
spoke to local business people as well as investors who operate or are
based in Arusha Region.
According to Mr Chambulo, who also owns
the Kibo Safari Company, the tour firms that pay state taxes were only
the few large ones, but the sector comprises also of myriad small safari
companies that operate by stealth, doing huge business yet the owners
pocket each and every cent, leaving the tax burdens to large operators.
Speaking during the meeting, the Finance
and Planning Minister told the business persons here that while the
government is working hard to reduce dependency on foreign inputs into
the national budget, the state will still use money from development
partners to fund large development and infrastructural projects such as
Railways construction.
Dr Mpango made it clear that, with the
monthly revenue collection clocking at 1.6 trillion/- the country was
becoming self-sufficient as far as funding the nation’s budgetary needs
is concerned.
He therefore used the occasion to warn
local business people of Arusha that the state machinery will soon be
activated to screen and sort out those that keep stealing from the
government through tax evasion.
“We will act tough when it comes to
revenue collection because we intend to use our locally generated
revenues to run the country,” he said but added that, the government
will not scrap foreign aid altogether because there are larger projects
that may need some outside assistance.
“The planned construction of the Central
Railways Carriageway for instance, will still be executed through
foreign grants,” pointed out the Minister.
On her part, the Executive Director for
Tanzania Horticulture Association (TAHA), Ms Jackline Mkindi, requested
the government to review some of the taxes being imposed onto the
agricultural sector especially vegetable and fruits exporters so as to
help support the growing industry.
The Finance and Planning Minister had
previously toured the Holili Border post in Kilimanjaro region where he
addressed members of staff at the customs office of the Tanzania Revenue
Authority (TRA) where he insisted that all transactions must be done
electronically.
“I am surprised that here you are still
using hand-written receipts and analogue means of transferring cash from
collection centres to the bank,” said Dr Mpango.
The TRA Manager for Kilimanjaro Region,
Mr Abdul Mapembe, said the area has accomplished better ways of
collecting revenues from traders and other business people in the region
without running into conflicts with taxpayers and that, collections
have been improving with each passing year.
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