From Ugandan President Yuweri Kaguta Museveni, Chairman of African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) Tunde Fowler and Executive Secretary of African Tax Administration Forum, Logan Wort and specialists in the taxation of digital and online arm of African and global economy, came thoughts and insights, Tuesday on how Africa could increase its revenue yields and free itself of dependence on foreign aids, loan and handouts.
The Head, Communications and Servicom, FIRS, Wahab Gbadamosi in a statement said Museveni rooted against the taxation of production. Rather, he called for the taxation of consumption, property and greater attention to integrity in recruiting the workforce in tax agencies.
Fowler on the other hand, said Africa should pay more attention to how to stem Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) taxing rights of Africans who consume goods produced in different parts of the world, online tracking of all such transactions, and how to sustain capacity building programmes of tax authority staff in order to stem the financial hemorrhaging on the continent which he said the Thabo Mbeki report puts at over $ 60 billion close to seven years ago.
The Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, also called for support from African leaders on how to influence global discussions both through policy formulation, technical inputs and how the continent can navigate new technologies to provide sufficient scope to modernise and increase efficiencies in tax administration.
Wort noted that Africa is and will continue to loose a huge slice of the revenue that should accrue to it if the continent fails to pay attention to almost over 139 million face book and 500 million mobile phone users and the online digital transaction set to contribute US$110 billion to Africa’s GDP, next year.
The trio and a Professor Anne Ogutu of the African Tax Institute, who spoke on the challenge of taxing digital economy, who spoke at the opening of the 4th International Conference on Tax in Africa at Kampala Serena Hotel, Uganda, warned that in a world, where the economy is no longer obeying the tax rule of where you reside as a basis for levying tax, where consumers and at times taxpayers and businessmen are stateless, there has to be a radical review of tax policy and practice in Africa if the continent is not to loose out from the global digital economy.
Museveni, spoke last at the opening ceremony and held the audience spellbound will his repertoire of practical experience and witty anecdotes.“ Ï want to speak about our issues”. He said as he commenced his 18-minute speech, which he made in his ex-tempore speech. “”We should know what to tax and why.. I don’t support taxation of production. The point is that if production is not taxed, people will have more money in their pockets to spend. I know that if Ugandans have money in their pockets, in the evening or at weekend, they will go and relax. You can then collect tax when they go and take some drinks”.
