Pay taxes, Mutharika urges Malawians
President Peter Mutharika has urged Malawians to be faithful in paying taxes as government uses the funds for various development activities.
The President said this in Mzuzu on Thursday where he toured road upgrades taking place in the city.
“Let me urge you fellow Malawians to be faithful in payment of various taxes so that government can collect enough money that will be used to further develop our cities,” said the President.
During the tour, Mutharika reiterated government’s desire to see all the roads in the country’s cities and towns upgraded to bitumen standard.
in paying taxes
Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) has over the past five months been beating its set targets.
In November, total tax revenues collected amounted to K64.91 billion against a monthly projection of K56.32 billion, recording a revenue surplus of K8.59 billion.
“The good performance is attributed to strong performance in non-resident tax, provisional tax, import duty, import value added tax (VAT) and import excise,” reads the revenue outturn report.
Thus, MRA has cumulatively collected K316.67 billion against a target of K284.84 billion, representing a positive variance of K31.82 billion.
MRA has attributed this performance to reforms championed by the Public Service Reform Commission (PSRC) which MRA embraced coupled with staff commitment and dedication to work.
MRA director of corporate affairs Steven Kapoloma is on record as having said the sustained improvement in tax collection is also a direct result of tax compliant behaviour by taxpayers who continue to voluntarily come forward to pay their taxes on time.
The tax collection agency is appealing to all taxpayers to be tax compliant as the 2016/17 fiscal year progresses.
Experts have said timely payments of tax will enable the Malawi government achieve its development goals, more especially now when there is limited external donor support.
MRA has also been calling Malawians to take an active role in demanding fiscal receipts generated by electronic fiscal devices (EFDs) every time they make a purchase as this will ensure that VAT is well accountED for.
Mutharika said money collected from taxes is what is enabling the government to build roads.
He assured Malawians that government will ensure that it completes all the projects it has started nationwide. n
