By Alpha Abu
Hundreds of traders thronged the Freetown City Hall Auditorium on Thursday 17 February 2021 to express their objection to the decision by the National Revenue Authority (NRA) to introduce cash register machines connected with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) system, in their shops.
The atmosphere during the meeting called by the Sierra Leone Importers Union was quite tense as irate business people interrupted particularly NRA officials as they tried to explain the reasons behind the Authority’s decision to sanction the use of the machines in shops. Speaker after speaker expressed concerns that if the GST tax per purchase were to come from the consumer, their sales would drop amidst fears that consumers would prefer to buy from street traders instead, so as to avoid the addition on the pricing on goods by shop owners as a result of the use of the GST machines.
The traders said if they were then to sell goods at the normal prices and pay the GST for customers, then they would not only lose the profit margins but could end up tampering with their capital, and in effect ruining their business.
The business people who took turns to express their views said Sierra Leone’s economy wasn’t ready yet for the introduction of such machines, claiming that other neighbouring countries do not have such in place. They said they pay GST for their container goods at the Port, and with the exponential rise in freight charges, all of these they claimed to create a huge burden on them in managing a profitable business.
The Secretary-General of the Union, Rashid Conteh, addressing the gathering said they represent the largest tax-paying sector and the biggest employer in the country, but that they were particularly concerned about the introduction of the machines, which he said has the propensity to tamper with their capital money. He said they have serious misgivings about the machines, and cited cases of traders with less money to import goods, having to form themselves into what he called Grouping consisting of four or five individuals, pooling their monies together for them to be able to place orders for shipment of a container load of goods from mostly China or Turkey to Sierra Leone. He said traders stand to experience multiple GST charges for the same goods at various stages of the Clearing process, and that the use of the machines in the shops would further add to the taxation burden.
Conteh said they were not against paying tax but that they have strong reservations about the complexities surrounding the machines being distributed by NRA.
President of the Importers Union, Alhaji Wurie Sow spoke about the perseverance of their members in ensuring goods come into the country by doing Online Orders from overseas because of the travel restrictions brought about by the COVI 19 pandemic. He called on NRA to clearly define which businesses qualify for the machines, with all the doubts surrounding their use by traders in the country.
Commissioner Ibrahim Sorie from the NRA described their meeting with the business people as the largest to date. He said the Authority’s intention was for consumers to pay the GST from the purchases they make and not to tax out the traders from their capital money. But again, he was interrupted by shouts of defiance as he tried to explain what a contentious topic was.
He however stated they would continue to engage the traders so that the “misunderstanding” being created about the machines could be sorted out for the good of all parties.
On the issue of NRA’s forceful closure of shops which the traders also raised concern about, Sorie said the measure has been applied to shop owners who have been found not to have registered their business and who put up confrontational posture when NRA officials come to their shops.
Deputy Commissioner General of NRA, Jeneba Bangura tried to assuage the fears of the business people, saying the Authority never wanted to make life difficult for them and spoke of how the use of the machines will serve as an upgrade from the manual monthly book entry for daily sales which the shop owners do and which she said in some cases experienced missing receipts when cross-checked by NRA officials for records on their tax obligations.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (21/02/22)
