CAPE TWON: During a recent meeting for tax administrators in Kigali, the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) said it had missed its tax revenue target by four per cent. It also missed its non-tax revenue target. RRA’s tax revenue target was Rwf333.4 billion ($153 million), but only Rwf323.3 billion ($148.7 million) was collected between July and October.
According to Richard Tusabe, RRA’s Commissioner-General the shortfall in revenues was as a result of fraud perpetuated using false invoices to claim VAT. For the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), the target was to collect Ksh435,424 million ($4.2 million), but only Ksh420,707 million ($4 million) was realised. While taxes from petroleum raked in Kshs45,517 million ($446 million), which is above the targeted Ksh37,609 million ($368.8 million), low collections from international trade revenue, domestic revenue, fees and licences hindered KRA from meeting its target. KRA faces a challenge of under declaration of import values at the Mombasa Port leading to loss of millions of dollars in taxes. Also some goods declared to be in transit sometimes end up in the local market. The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) is equally struggling to meet its revenue collection targets. The country was hoping to collect Ush3,890.29 billion ($1.07 billion) but only collected Ush3,723.67 billion ($1 billion) between July and October.
Dickson Katushumbwa Commissioner of Customs at URA attributes the falling import revenues in the region to increasing consumption of locally-manufactured goods as they have become cheaper with the depreciation of the local currencies. The low global commodity prices have also reduced tax collections. For instance, steel prices which were at $1,000 per tonne have dipped to $300 $350 per tonne.
Wheat has also been hit hard by the depressed global prices. The prices of wheat have fallen from highs of $650 per tonne to $400 per tonne.
For South Sudan, tax revenues have remained small with revenue contributions stagnating at four per cent of GDP.
