By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The National Revenue Authority (NRA) has announced on Wednesday that they have increased their revenue collection by Le596 billion in 2019.
The authority said it collected Le2. 229 trillion from January to May this year, adding that by the same time last year it had collected Le1. 633 trillion. This, according to officials, does not only placed the country’s revenue performance on target, but it’s also 51 percent higher than what was collected within the same period in 2017.
The NRA’s core mandate is to collect tax revenue on behalf of the government.
Dr Samuel Gibao, Commissioner General of NRA, has been in charge of the Authority for over a year now. He explained how much impact their revenue generation trend has had on the economy.
“The NRA recorded revenue increase by 36% over 2017 in 2018. The revenue GDP ratio increased by 1.5% which is not only historical but comparable with any high performing revenue collecting country around the world,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday.
In 2018 NRA generated a total of 4. 428 trillion.
The Authority said the success in revenue collection has been led by key reforms and systems review.
Deputy Commissioner General, Jeneba Bangura, said they have balanced revenue mobilization with systems reform.
Dr Philip Kargbo, Director of Monitoring, Research and Planning, said the institution’s is aiming to change how tax is collected by using more advanced technological systems.
“We are implementing three ICT programs: ASYCUDA World, Electronic Cash Register and Integrated Tax Administrative System (ITAS). These are the major reforms and they will change how taxation is done in Sierra Leone,” he said.
Already some of these reforms have been rolled out in different revenue collection points. The authority said this has improved transparency and contributed to efficiency.
“We thought it fit to bring a world class system to help with tax administration. The ASYCUDA World is an advanced web based system use to tax goods. It helps with faster clearance, reduce human interface and minimize corruption,” added Dr Kargbo.
“We have rolled it out down the quay, we have rolled it out at SALPOST and the airport,” he said.
NRA’s success in revenue generation has however come with concerns about over taxation on businesses. But the Commissioner General said there was no over taxation going on.
“GST here is 15%, on average GST in the sub region is 16%. The government reduced the marginal PAYE rate from 35% to 30%. As we speak there is no GST on rice and there is no duty on rice,” Dr Gibao said.
“I can authoritatively tell you that there is no over taxing,” he emphasized.
In the past NRA has also been hit by credibility issues. Some of its staff were publicly molested for corrupt practices during revenue collection. The authority now say this is all in the past now, noting that it has created internal mechanisms to ensure integrity.
“For so many years the integrity of this institution has been called to question in many quarters. We are aware of this and have reconstituted and made effective disciplinary committee that presides over reported staff corruption cases. Whilst applauding the Anti- Corruption Commission, we have established an Internal Affairs Department, a measure to monitor and caution our staff in the fight against corruption,” Dr Gibao added.
© 2019 Politico Online
