By Amin Kef (Ranger)
The International Center for Tax and Development (ICTD) in the collaboration with the National Revenue Authority and the Budget Advocacy Network (BAN) has on the 8th December, 2022 ended a first of a two day Sierra Leone Tax for Development Conference at the Radisson Blu Conference Room which commenced on the 7th December, 2022.
Bringing together international partners, the conference recorded or had eight sessions on different topics of relevance to taxation and development in Sierra Leone such as domestic revenue mobilization, taxing the informal sector and tobacco taxation among others and brought together policy actors, the media and civil society activists.
The conference also provided the platform through which participants shared and increased the impact and usefulness of a research conducted by a body of researchers in the country who have explored the impacts of taxation and tax reforms on citizens, equity and service provision.
Chairman of the occasion, Abubakarr Kamara, Executive Director, Network Movement for Justice and Development and Executive Chair of BAN said for the next two days the conference will look at taxation expressing hope that the sessions will inform the discourse and at the end of the day all will understand whether taxation is the best option for revenue.
Commissioner General of the National Revenue Authority (NRA), Dr. Samuel S. Jibao, said he is delighted to be part of the first International Conference on taxation held in Sierra Leone.
He furthered how incidentally there have been a growing number of research efforts on Sierra Leone’s tax system by both local and international researchers and that the conference will explore the usefulness of some of these researches in the context of informing tax and other policy formulations in Sierra Leone.
Dr. Samuel S Jibao said he is delighted that BAN collaborated with the International Center for Tax and Development (ICTD) to host the very first International Conference on Taxation in Sierra Leone especially at a time when the NRA has made great gains in revenue mobilization in the midst of multiple shocks as a result of COVID-19 and the Russian/ Ukraine war.
He disclosed how revenue to GDP has grown from 12.3% in 2007 to 15.7% in 2021 with four percentage points in four years. He said the implementation of reforms has had positive effects on revenue mobilization with the latest reforms of the Non Tax Revenue Department. He said conferences like this will help inform policy directions in formulating future tax laws.
The Commissioner-General maintained that the NRA’s relationship with ICDT dated back in 2019 and that he is pleased to be part of the conference because the documents been presented are researched materials.
“Revenue mobilization is critical and that most people now believe that the best way to run a nation is through domestic revenue mobilization. With the shocks and donor funding dropping, domestic revenue is the only thing that is helping,” he said.
Dr. Jibao noted that the Government continues to reduce tax rates while widening the tax base.
He said though Government continues to reduce tax rates, however, the NRA will still continue to collect taxes while hitting its target.
Dr. Jibao noted that a number of research papers will be presented that will generate a number of discussions.
“The Ukraine Russia War has affected revenue generation and as of September this year we should have collected 5.3 trillion but we were only able to collect 5.1 a drop of three hundred million. For the past years we have embarked on series of reforms and if we want to be efficient, we cannot continue to collect taxes manually,’ he said.
This is the more reason Dr. Jibao said they have introduced the integrated tax administration System or ITAS.
“With the ITAS, big businesses are now paying more except for businesses ratified by Parliament that we do not have control over,” he intimated.
Speaking on how important is the conference for tax administration, Dr Samuel Jibao said tax research is very critical and whatever they do must be informed by research which according to him is why they organized such a conference.
He said NRA and its partners have been implementing tax policies and laws to improve tax administration in the country.
He said they are doing all of these things because they believe that tax administration should be made simpler noting that the cost of complying with tax laws should not be expensive.
Abubakarr Kamara, Executive Director, Network Movement for Justice and Development and Executive Chair of BAN, speaking earlier, said the conference will seek to see how policy formulation can be influenced by a well evidence based research so that decisions will be taken on available data in order to be able to see an increase in revenue in terms of fairness and equity.
Abubakarr Kamara disclosed that they brought recent studies on taxation nationally and locally for revenue generation, adding that they want to see how such studies will help policy formulation.
He continued that at the end of the conference they want to see how the researches will be used by Government and other stakeholders to influence policies, revenue administration, review laws and revenue strategies in supporting Government’s drive towards a fair, transparent and equitable revenue mobilization.
On his part, the Director of Research and Delivery at the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Yakama Manti Jones said even though sixty percent of the Government’s expenditure on development plans is from tax revenue they collect, because of the impacts of COVID-19 and Ukraine war on the people of Sierra Leone the Government has waived off taxes on essential commodities such as rice.
Dr. Yakama Manti Jones furthered that resources generated from tax collection enable the Government to invest in education and health, infrastructure as well as adaptation measures in response to climate change risks and expand social safety nets to protect the most vulnerable citizens among other things.
Giving the keynote address and declaring the conference open, Dr. Yakama Manty Jones said, “our country like the rest of the world has been experiencing multiple crises brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the intensifying threats from climate change”.
She affirmed that these crises have created uncertainty, disrupted supply chains and exacerbated shortages of essential commodities, causing sharp increases in the prices of food, fuel and fertilizer.
She said the IMF has projected that global growth will slow from 6 percent in 2021 to 2.7 percent in 2023 while noting inflation continues to rise.
“These developments have caused real hardship for Sierra Leoneans, affecting their livelihoods and food security. The poor and vulnerable who make up the majority of our society, have been disproportionately impacted, and must be protected. That is why the theme for our proposed budget for 2023 is ‘Addressing the Needs of the Vulnerable in the Context of Multiple Crises’,” she said.
Dr. Manty-Jones noted that they at the Ministry know that mobilizing tax revenue is critical in helping the situation although Government still benefits from aids.
She said over 60 percent of Sierra Leone’s total revenue comes from taxes and the resources will enable the country to invest in education, health, build roads, and infrastructure to improve the supply of clean water and energy, support local food production, pursue adaptation measures in response to climate change risks and expand social safety nets to protect most vulnerable.
“We have already implemented fiscal measures to mitigate the impacts of the economic situation. We have maintained the zero-import duty and goods and services tax on imported rice, deferred taxes on the importation of essential commodities and cut taxes in half on essential commodities such as cement and iron rods,” she stated.
Abubakarr Kamara noted that Government continues to forgo a lot of taxes in the mining sector; a situation he said is not good for the country.
The Executive Director of Actionaid Sierra Leone, Foday Bassie Swaray said taxation is something his organization continues to talk about over the years while they continue to put forward information on the subject matter.
Bassie Swaray noted that tax justice should be a social concern adding that they believe in taxation but it should be progressive and distributed equitably.
“Taxation therefore should be at the center of development and we have a strong interest in progressive taxation as we want to see a situation that those who earn more pay more and these monies are used to provide health care services for the poor, water supply and other essential commodities,” he said.
Bassie Swaray said, over the years, together with the Budget Advocacy Network they have made several recommendations to Government regarding taxation.
“We hope this conversation will not stop here as we debate and engage the Government,” the Actionaid Executive Director said.
Presentations and a roundtable among panelists formed the highpoint of the conference
