By William Madouk Garang
Any individuals found dealing in illegal collection of taxes will face a severe sentence, the government of national unity has sternly warned.
This came after a meeting between the Vice President for Economic Cluster, Dr. James Wani Igga and Specialized Committee for Finance and Economic Planning at the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA).
In the meeting, the two offices discussed ways to improve the collection of non-oil revenues in the country.
Addressing the press after the meeting, the chairperson of specialized committee of Finance and Economic Planning in the parliament, Mr. Changkuoth Bichiock said they had lengthy discussion in which it was resolved that any illegal tax collector will pay penalties.
“The government said those individuals dealing in the illegal collection of taxes will face the consequence” the statement from the V.P for Economic Cluster Press Unit stated.
“All those loopholes and any illegal collection of taxes need to be improved on, those illegal collections should be stopped and then we focus on how we collect revenues. So, we can increase our resource envelope for the country to benefit from non-oil revenue” Bichiock added.
He lamented that the country has been depending on oil proceeds 99 percent but now they are going to embark on no-oil revenue collection which stands at 2 percent of the budget.
In July, Members of Parliament (MPs) in the R-TNLA suspended a compulsory deal that require all goods imported from Kenya and destined to South Sudan to be transported via Nairobi inland depot (ICD).
The decision was prompted following truckers complaints urging the government to take a sound decision and back-down transfer of port, total elimination of any middlemen or brokers in the process of importing goods into the country.
Truckers said shifting cargo transportation from the main transit of Mombasa port to Nairobi – Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) was going to hurt citizens as prices of basic commodities will climb sharply in Juba due to double handling and other costs.