Tax is generally important on the agenda in Africa. At the international level, advocacy groups and the G8 have called for greater efforts to counter tax evasion and avoidance by multinational companies. Then, Burundi Revenue Authority has elaborated a document about its reform achievements.-Diane Uwimana
Kieran Holmes: “Burundian people need to be sensitized about tax collecting. We are going to work in partnership with media for ensuring how we tax.”©Iwacu
According to Kieran Holmes, the General Commissioner of the Burundi Revenue Authority (BRA), BRA has been working with the African Research Institute (ARI) to reform tax in Africa since March 2013. “We have prepared a document highlighting some achievements of the BRA since its creation in 2009. And the document is called for State and Citizen: Reforming Tax Administration in Burundi. The ARI sent its researchers to conduct interviews with BRA staff, private sector agents, business community, Government and donors’ community,” mentions the General Commissioner. He indicates that the survey has specifically dealt with how the BRA builds tax administration in Burundi, collects tax in large, middle and small sectors. “They have also focused on the new laws that have been acted by the Government in tax procedures and value added tax. Thanks to the latter, the BRA has benefited from it in raising Burundi economic growth, even if the work is not yet fulfilled,” underlines Holmes.
It is worth indicating that in 2012, tax revenues were 75% higher than in 2009- there has been an increase of 25% in real terms. The contribution of tax to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose from 13.8% in 2009 to 16.7%. The General Commissioner declares that the BRA management has been invited at Tax Expert symposium in London for underlining the achievements of BRA. “Our report highlights the actions taken to reduce corruption, improve services, implement legislative reforms and widen the tax base,” urges Holmes.
BRA determined to improve communication for better results
Among difficulties encountered by BRA, tax exemptions remain too high and the costs of taxing of the informal economy outweigh any financial benefit. “Burundian people need to be sensitized about tax collecting. We are going to work in partnership with media for ensuring how we tax,” he says. According to him, as Burundi is trying to raise its economic growth by tax collection, it will be the first country to receive more international support than other countries which do not apply that system. “During that Expert Symposium on tax in Africa last month, different participants were presents: diplomats, UK parliamentarians, academics, tax experts, journalists and representatives from donors’ agencies and the private sectors. They have gained a lesson from Burundi as a worldwide leader to tax administration”, concludes Holmes. It is worth emphasizing that BRA has recently collected its provisional results from the recipes. It has collected BIF 42,19 billion in October 2013. As the forecasts for this month were BIF 43, 45 billion, there was a loss of earnings of 2.90%. The decrease has been caused by non instalment payments this month that were collected however, in the same month last year.In short, the real decrease is about 6.63%.
IWACU Open Data
