Tanzania: People Urged to Take Tax Payment Very Seriously

By Daily News Reporter in Dodoma

PERMANENT Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Dotto James, has called on all Tanzanians to be committed to paying taxes in order to facilitate the country's industrialisation drive.

In a speech read on his behalf by Mr Pius Mponzi, the PS said the link between paying taxes,

industrialisation and agriculture was very clear, adding that agriculture remains one of the driving forces of industrialisation.

"About 75per cent of Tanzanians are engaged in agriculture and the sector contributes nearly onethird of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with potentials to improve livelihoods and increasing incomes," he said.

Mr James was speaking at the Institute of Rural Development Planning's (IRDP) 12th convocation held at the institute's campus themed: Mainstreaming Taxpaying Consciousness and Agriculture in Tanzania's Industrialisation agenda.

"Taxpaying is an issue that lies at the heart of the fiscal contract between the State and its citizens in the course of acquiring desired socio-economic development and to have a citizenry which has the willingness to pay taxes requires the government and its machinery as well as development actors to collaborate in relevant and informative awareness creation campaigns on the contribution of tax to development," said the PS.

Earlier on, the rector of IRDP, Professor Hozen Kaaya, said that his institute was growing and that it was 40 years old since its establishment in 1979, and had so far produced over 25,000 graduates.

"It is an undeniable fact that IRDP graduates have continued to perform considerably well in the field of development planning wherever they are employed in the formal and informal sectors, both public and private," he said.

The convocation also involved recognition and congratulating IRDP students who have performed well in their studies and featured well in IRDP extra-curricula undertakings.

A total of 63 students (37 males and 26 females) were awarded different prizes at the well-attended convocation.