MRA in Everyone Must Pay Tax campaign

The Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) on Friday launched the Everyone Must Pay Tax campaign at Msonkho House in Blantyre.

Writing on their official Facebook page after launching the campaign, MRA Head of Corporate Affairs Steven Kapoloma said the objective of the exercise is to improve compliance behaviour by encouraging individuals and businesses to register for tax and to file correctly and timely their due tax returns.

During the campaign, the authority’s officials will directly engage businesses, civil society and the media to educate them on tax provisions, processes and procedures in order to assist them comply with the revenue laws and support domestic tax mobilization Kapoloma also revealed that the tax collector has surpassed its projections in the first half of the current financial year.

“MRA has beaten the set target for the first half of Fiscal Year 2016/2017 by K37.9 billion with a total of K377 billion taxes collected against a target of K339.1 billion. Several initiatives have contributed to this performance.

“We are implementing the Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs), ASYCUDA World, and cargo scanners, among others. We are also implementing several taxpayer education initiatives to mobilize citizens to pay their fair share of taxes. Our aim is to sustain this performance that is why we are today launching the ‘Everyone Must Pay Tax’ campaign,” Kapoloma said.

He said the achievements in tax collection demonstrate that it is possible for Malawians to generate revenue to finance various development agendas and that the country can attain economic sovereignty.

“The taxes we pay have enabled provision of national security through training of Police officers who are visibly available in communities. Taxes are being used to build roads, construct bridges, bituminize city roads, establish technical colleges, procure essential drugs, and procure subsidized farm inputs. Using taxes, government has also been able to pay salaries for civil servants such as teachers, doctors and nurses, the Police, the army and others,” Kapoloma said.

The Everyone Must Pay Tax campaign will run for three months