The Municipality had a collection target of Sh29.9 billion but it ended up collecting only Sh23.2 billion
Mtwara. Traders plying their wares at the Mtwara Mikindani Municipal Council don’t want to, willingly, pay city levies.
This has put the Municipality in a quandary and has put breaks on the implementation of development projects due to shortage of funds. In the 2021/22 fiscal year, for example, the Municipality fell short of Sh6.7 billion in its collection targets, Gwakisa Mwasyega, the Municipality’s head of Planning and Coordination told Councillors at a recent full council meeting.
The Municipality had a collection target of Sh29.9 billion but it ended up collecting only Sh23.2 billion.
He said that to overcome the challenge the Municipal has categorized licensed traders into three groups.
Under the groups, those who close accounts annually will pay 0.3 percent of the service levies and those who do not close the accounts annually but have Electronic Fiscal Devices machines (EFD) will also pay services levies for 0.3 percent.
Licensed traders who neither close their accounts nor have EFD machines will pay between Sh60,000 and Sh120,000 in service levy depending on the size of their businesses.
The mayor for Mikindani Municipal Council, Shadide Ndile told the councilors that the responsibility ahead of them was to ensure that the plans are implemented.
The councilor for Majengo Ward, Sixmund Lungu urged the council to find other sources of revenues.
