The Director of Finance of the National Revenue
Authority (NRA) Abdulai Conteh has disclosed NRA’s plans to implement new
government tax and austerity measures to increase revenue collection.
While the thrust of government’s Austerity Plan centres on cutting spending on local
and overseas trips, seminars and workshops, fuel allocation, procurement
of vehicles and office furniture and vehicle maintenance among
others; specific tax reform measures were also announced.
These are: collection of outstanding tax
arrears, reduction of discretionary waivers, rationalisation of statutory
waivers, and transfer of tax revenue by commercial banks within 24 hours.
According to Abdulai Conteh, the task ahead for the NRA has become more daunting than ever. Indeed, the NRA will be expected to take on the biggest responsibility of generating revenue compared to other alternative sources. Mr.Conteh said the Authority is at present expected to collect Le 2.701 trillion which even in a period of economic growth can be challenging given people’s attitudes to taxation. In addition, this target is likely to be reviewed upwards following the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings currently taking place in Washington DC which the Commissioner-General Madam Haja Kallah- Kamara is attending.
Despite these challenges, Mr.Conteh is confident that the NRA as always will rise to the challenge. “We vow to do our best to increase domestic revenue. At the outset, we have introduced diverse reforms to ensure high efficiency in our tax administration and improve on our revenue performance. Even so, we take due cognisance of the recommendations made by government with the announcement of these austerity measures” Mr.Conteh said. He further stated that the NRA will prioritise and enforce government’s austerity measures while pushing forward with other tried and tested strategies to maximize revenue collection.
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