Ineffectiveness of the newly introduced revenue collection system known as Max-Malipo emerged on Tuesday as legislators questioned the rationale of the arrangement that caused more inconveniences to tax payers than being efficient.
Speaker of the National Assembly Anne Makinda
The seriousness of the matter prompted the Speaker of the National Assembly, Anne Makinda, to demand detailed explanation by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs before end of the ongoing Parliamentary session in Dodoma.
It all started when the former minister for Education, Margareth Sitta (Special Seats – CCM) narrated an ordeal she went through in the recent past when trying to pay for her vehicle’s road licence in Dar es Salaam.
“We were more than ten people lined up in front of a service both waiting to make payments as directed by revenue officials. For two days no service was provided because the ‘system’ was down.
Deliberate measures should be taken to make sure that revenue collection system is improved to avoid loss of millions of shillings,” Sitta explained.
The Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Ms Janeth Mbene agreed on the need to make serious assessment of Max-Malipo system as the aim was to increase efficiency to the convenience of tax payers.
“It was decided that more revenue collection avenues should be explored to help the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) collect more revenue for the country’s development. This system will be re-assessed to remove all obstacles,” Ms Mbene explained.
The Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Anne Makinda emphatically said; “The issue raised by Madame Sitta must receive proper attention and clarification should be given in this House before end of the session,” Makinda said.
Earlier, Mr Mussa Azzan Zungu, (Ilala -CCM) demanded clarification as to why municipal councils should not be given the mandate to collect Building Tax more efficiently instead of waiting for TRA to do the job.
The Deputy Minister, Ms Mbene, said the government through the Financial Laws Miscellaneous Amendments, Act of 2008 gave TRA the responsibility to collect Building Tax on behalf of municipal councils, with the intention to improve collection of revenue.
“TRA in collaboration with the Local Government Authorities has been entrusted with the responsibility to assess, estimate, collect and audit Building Tax and this was scheduled for five years starting July 2008 ending June 2013. For the first three years TRA managed to collect 3.891bn/- from the three municipalities of Ilala, Temeke and Kinondoni.
The amount is equivalent to revenue growth of 41.42 per cent. However, the Ministry of Finance is set to present in Parliament an amendment bill to allow municipal councils to collect the Building Tax again,” she explained.
Source Tanzania Daily News
