AS THE three finance ministers of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania put the final touches to their 2004/05 budgets, tax authorities in the three countries say revenue collections will surpass targets for the 2003/04 financial year. Commissioners General Michael G. Waweru of the Kenya Revenue Authority, Harry Kitillya of the Tanzania Revenue Authority and Annebritt Aslund of the Uganda Revenue Authority said tax collections had risen in the three countries following improvements in tax administration.

They were speaking at a meeting in Kampala attended by taxmen from the East African region.

Said Mr Waweru: "During the third quarter of the 2003/04 financial year, all revenue departments registered growth of over 12 per cent. The total collection was Ksh56.6 billion ($725.6 million) against a target of Ksh52.9 billion ($678.2 million)." 

He said the revenue yield during the period under review represented a performance rate of 104.8 per cent and a growth rate of 16.2 per cent compared with the corresponding quarter in 2002/03.

The improved performance of good tax collections in the first nine months of 2003/04 by KRA has been attributed to good tax management and the widening of the tax base, he said. The authority restructured its operations by creating five administrative regions, headed by senior deputy commissioners and one headed by a deputy commissioner, he added.

Said Mr Waweru, "Since the beginning of February, we have been confronted with an enormous customer-service challenge arising from new measures put in place by the Ministry of Transport and Communication to streamline the public transport sector." Public service vehicle drivers and conductors are required to obtain PIN numbers among other requirements before being engaged in employment.

"As a result, we have had to handle sometimes as many as 5,000 clients per day as opposed to 1,000 whom we served on a normal working day," said Mr Waweru.

"These measures have played a major role in bringing a critical part of the informal sector into the tax net," he said. 

Mr Kitillya, TRA commissioner general, said the revenue performance up to March 2004 had surpassed projections. 

The collections were 112 per cent above target in the past nine months, he said.

The TRA will review the procurement system and set up a tender committee in line with the Procurement Act to improve collections, he said. 

Mr Kitillya said that TRA had set up a total of 66 one-stop centres in the country to serve taxpayers.

In Uganda, a total of Ush1,655 billion ($895 million) was expected this financial year after 10 of the country's import items showed growth in dollar terms. These are industrial plant and machinery, cereals, motor vehicles, paper and paper articles and electrical machinery and equipment.

Ms Aslund said that although, by February, the collections had a shortfall of Ush6.03 billion ($3.2million), Easter sales in March and April would make up for the deficit.

URA's ability to hit the revenue collection target this financial year comes in the wake of a decline in fuel sales of up to 5.18 per cent compared with the performance during the same period last year. 

Officials attribute the performance to an increase in imports, efficient tax administration and a reduction in corruption following a probe by High Court judge, Julia Sebutinde into corruption at the URA. 

Following the investigation, some tax officials either fled the country or resigned.

Budgets for the East African countries will be presented in the second week of June.
 

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