WINDHOEK – Work has started that is geared towards establishing an effective tax collection institution, a semi-autonomous revenue collection agency that will focus on the collection of much needed revenues to fund the country’s development programmes.
The ministry of finance under whose ambit the revenue collection function falls, has managed to establish dedicated units for specialised industries, units staffed with professionals. It has established a large taxpayer directorate, a small, as well as a medium taxpayer directorate within the current Inland Revenue Department. All these measures are part of the institutional reforms to widen revenue streams, as well as to ensure an efficient and effective tax collection system. This year will witness the Minister of Finance, Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila introducing legislation on an environmental tax, as well as export levy rates in parliament. “The ministry has over the years been pursuing efforts to improve tax collection and tax payer services,” said Kuugongelwa-Amadhila yesterday when she introduced the task team that would head the establishment of the semi-autonomous revenue agency. The country’s revenues from taxes, as a ratio of the Gross Domestic Product, increased from 23.7 percent to 31.9 percent in the 2012/13 fiscal year. Although the ministry described the level of growth in revenue productivity “a laudable outcome by international standards… [which] has bolstered the State’s capacity to address the socio-economic development needs of the country, even during the difficult period of global economic crisis,” the establishment of a semi-autonomous revenue collection body is expected to increase the revenue collected from taxes even further.
The task team is expected to develop options for revenue collection agency models that can be considered for Namibia. Once a model has been adopted, the task team would spearhead the drafting of the legal framework, as well as assist with the setting up of the agency and offer advice on the transitional arrangements.
The task team will consist of I-Ben Nashandi, the deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance as chairperson, Emile van Zyl, a technical advisor at the Bank of Namibia, Patty Karuaihe-Martin who is the head of the Tax Reforms Project in the Ministry of Finance, Penda Ithindi a Deputy Director in the Ministry of Finance, Dr Bernie Zaaruka a senior economist at the Bank of Namibia, Ntwala Mwilima an economist in the Ministry of Finance, Salome Idhenga an economist in the Ministry of Finance, Thandi Hambira a control taxation officer in the Ministry of Finance and Nadine du Preez, a Deputy Director in the Ministry of Finance.
“The agency will be responsible for the administration of the tax revenue on behalf of the minister and will be accountable to the minister. The tax policy function will remain with the minister.
We have set a time line of between two to three years to get the new revenue agency up and running,” said Kuugongelwa-Amadhila.
By John Muyamba