More than R1 billion owed to Revenue Commission |18 January 2017

• No more tax waiver, warns Finance Minister

Defaulting tax payers owe more than R1 billion – a total of R1.130 billion – to the Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC).

Surprisingly, among the impressive figures, R230 million is owned by government ministries and agencies.

The total arrears represent more than 14% of the country’s 2017 budget, which is a little bit less than R8 billion!

The statistics were revealed to the Minister for Finance, Trade and Economic Planning Peter Larose as he visited the Commission’s offices at Maison Collet yesterday morning.

He was accompanied by the principal secretary for finance Patrick Payet, special advisor Sidna Cesar and assistant commissioner for domestic tax Marie-France Fanchette.

Briefing the minister on the operations of the SRC, revenue commissioner Georgette Capricieuse showed that our tax payer population can be very non-compliant. While some refuse to pay, she said, they try to have recourse from the finance minister or through other means.

“No more tax waiver,” the minister replied, as he reminded that every worker or business person who collects revenue should pay a share in form of tax.

He stressed on the need to educate and sensitise the people for them to lodge their returns and pay their taxes.

“Nobody lives in a tax free world. The law is clear. You have to pay tax on your revenue. The dues which belong to the government should be paid to government. If we do not collect revenue, the government and country will not function as we will not be able to finance services like health, education and road building,” he said.

Minister Larose also had the opportunity to interact with the staff and get accustomed with their work. They voiced the everyday challenges they are currently facing. These include lack of space, equipment such as scanners and human resources, as well as their CMS (Content Management System) which does not always work efficiently.

As solutions, the finance minister has promised of finding ways to upgrade the management system and reduce bureaucracy.

“We may have good intentions in being more efficient, but if we do not have suitable equipment and resources and do not eliminate bureaucracy through modernisation, it will impact on service delivery and we will be always behind. The finance ministry must become a pillar of modernisation with high management level. If we do not move forward, other ministries will not move neither. We must stop circling around a roundabout. To apply the principles of good governance, transparency and accountability we have to eliminate bureaucracy. We must cross the bridge of reality together,” he commented, stressing that “we have to collect maximum revenue in order to finance our projects from our own resources and not borrow from others”.

To modernise the SRC, he has proposed to seek help from other African countries which are ahead of us in terms of tax system and collection.

“My vision is to move into a fully electronic system. Rwanda has a one stop financial system; Uganda and Zambia are moving towards E-Taxation. So we also have to move forward into the electronic age. If we have to invest R5 million to collect 1 billion, it is worth it. In spite of the good work done so far, SRC needs to be reorganised. We have to work on real time data which will provide us with the right information and permit us to take the right decisions,” he emphasised.

Reacting to complaints of insufficient salary and staff held against the post in spite of many years of experience, the minister has also promised to improve staff welfare by reviewing the existing scheme of service, while expressing the need for human resource autonomy.

“Government sector has to lead by example. Staff should be paid according to their posts, what they deliver and not only according to qualification. You can have a PhD, but what’s the point if you cannot deliver?” he asked.

He however stressed on the need to have professional staff through proper training and to ultimately change the image of the finance ministry and create one of excellence.

SRC staff members have reacted that the ministerial visit has boosted their moral.

“If moral was a little bit low at times, I hope to have brought energy which will permit you to provide better service to tax payers. SRC is key to revenue collection. Government relies on you for that. So it is important that you do a good job,” Minister Larose concluded.

The accompanying photos show Minister Larose on his tour of the SRC offices and interacting with staff.