Tax compliance, education can work wonders

 Robert Okanda

TANZANIA: TAXPAYERS’ Association of Tanzania (TATA) has showered praise on the

government efforts in recognising the contribution of taxpayers.

Chairman of the Taxpayers Association (TATA), Mr Otieno Igogo, said the Association has been of a great help to taxpayers in this country due to helping taxpayers solve tax challenges they face as well as providing free advice to taxpayers to follow the established procedures, while making the taxpayer know that paying taxes is his responsibility, without waiting for the government to push them.

Mr Igogo said the goal of the association is to provide services to every citizen who pays taxes and who expects to be a tax payer by providing education that will help give them the right to pay taxes and their entitlements when they need services from the revenue authority.

The existence of this association solves challenges and removes contradictions between the taxpayer and the revenue authority, TRA.

The Association has distinguished itself in ensuring that it hires enough professionals with various professions, including in tax matters who help to serve people effectively so that there is an increase in the number of taxpayers from various cadres so that the government can get its revenue which will contribute to the economy of our nation as well as implementing various social projects in health, education, water and infrastructure.

These projects require Tanzanians who are taxpayers to be patriots in their country by paying taxes without coercion or government pressure. Mr Igogo further emphasised that the Association will continue to cooperate with the government and the private sector to ensure that Tanzanians get enough awareness and become patriotic to accomplish their responsibility of paying taxes on time.

He explained that the Taxpayers Association is an independent neutral and non-profit Association that was established in 1997 and registered under community laws (Chapter 337) of Tanzanian laws in 1999.

The Tanzania Taxpayers Association is also a national association with its headquarters in Dar es Salaam and can have its branches throughout the country in accordance with the law.

The Chairman further explained that TATA is a member of the World Taxpayers Association (WTA) with its headquarters in Stockholm in Sweden, where the Union has a total of 163-member countries in the world, including Tanzania, where the Chairman, Mr Otieno Igogo is one of the members of the WTA Advisory Board.

The Chairman also added that the Tanzania Taxpayers Association aims to provide clear information about taxes to the public in general about the necessary needs to contribute to the government through taxes for development.

TATA was established as a civil society organisation and development partner of the government to strengthen the education of taxpayers and strengthen revenue collection.

He further said that the Association was also established to strengthen the education of the taxpayer which strives to promote voluntary tax compliance, expand the scope of taxes and strengthen revenue collection.

He said today the Private-Public Partnership is important as the government recognises the role of the private sector in bringing about social and economic development through long-term development programmes such as education.

It is noteworthy that in terms of services, PPP have been successfully implemented by NGOs such as TATA in strengthening education.

Mr Igogo explained that little knowledge about taxes is one of the biggest challenges where many citizens do not have basic knowledge about the types of taxes, their purpose and how they contribute to the development of the nation.

This, he said, leads to not realising their responsibility in paying taxes and the importance of paying taxes that have been used in the implementation of various social projects such as the construction of classrooms, health centres, the distribution of water services and the construction of various infrastructures in the country.

Thus, he has explained that little awareness affects the way in which citizens can voluntarily contribute to the government’s income in the country.

He said that it is important to provide tax education to citizens in all parts of the country in urban and rural areas in order to raise awareness about taxes and their importance in the development of citizens and the country as a whole.

He also added that low awareness about tax deductions, exemptions and incentives creates lack of opportunities for taxpayers to improve their financial obligations.

He said that the complexity of Tax Laws is another challenge where tax laws are often difficult and difficult to understand for ordinary citizens, causing confusion and mistakes in compliance. So he advised that it is important for citizens to know the types of tax laws so that they can ensure they pay taxes in accordance with the existing laws.

“The revenue authority in Tanzania should make sure they have agents who will help in collecting government revenue in every part of the country, especially in the peripheral areas and areas where the revenue authority cannot reach to collect taxes,” he said.

He explained that the government has been losing revenue due to lack of tax agents to collect taxes, especially in peripheral areas, leading to those areas not having a direct connection with tax collectors.

He advised that the presence of these agents will help in ensuring that tax is collected in every part of the country in accordance with the governing laws to generate income for the government.

Mr Igogo further said that there should be a tax subject that will be taught from primary schools to enable Tanzanians to get tax education when they are still young, saying this will help when they reach adulthood when they will be prompted to pay taxes voluntarily while knowing the importance of those taxes to the government and development of the country.

Mr Igogo added that most of the economic activities in Africa occur in the informal sector, where individuals may not fully understand the importance of contributing to the official tax system, where there is lack of education for many Tanzanians on how they can move from the economy of the informal sector to the formal sector.