GOVERNMENT’S MOVE ON TAX POLICY COMMENDABLE

The minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Philip Mpango, met with the business community in Dodoma on Wednesday for consultations on various issues pertaining to taxation.

More specifically, according to Dr Mpango, the consultations were meant to give the business community an opportunity to propose how the government can increase taxes in the next budget without hurting businesses.

He said all issues raised by the private sector would be carefully studied and considered during the drawing up of the next budget. We commend the government for holding this key meeting with members of the private sector.

It is our hope that such consultations will be held regularly. Such engagement will also help reduce friction between the government and the private sector, which has its roots in decades of mistrust originating in Tanzania’s socialist past.

There were consultations on tax policies in the past, but these were held at lower levels of government. It was rare for the minister responsible for formulating tax policies to meet face-to-face with businesspeople.

We, therefore, hope that Dr Mpango will maintain the open-door policy, as it will facilitate direct and transparent dialogue and consultations with the business community.

It is also our hope that the issues raised by the business community will be worked upon diligently and adequate feedback relayed to cement trust. All non-tax issues raised in the Dodoma should also be adequately addressed. If anything, the numerous non-tax issues raised in Dodoma in a meeting that was meant to focus on tax matters is testimony to the fact that there are numerous hurdles the business community faces in their daily operations, which lead to the loss of billions of shillings annually.

The government can only become aware of such issues if it interacts with the community.