By Bida Elly David
A tax expert has warned tax collectors against closing businesses for failure to pay taxes and urged them to create good relationships with traders.
Albino Chol Thiik said that building positive relationships with traders will enable tax institutions to professionally generate enough revenues for the government’s treasury.
“Tax collectors should know that we are always enemies of the public because of what we collect, and we should use good language to communicate to them. Use a word like, please pay your taxes,’’ he said.
He made the appeal during the welcoming ceremony of the new commissioner general of the revenue authority.
The expert called on the tariff institutions to be cautious against their act, noting that cruel attitude may make the revenue authority lose more money than expected.
He urged the new commissioner general to ensure conflict resolution among the employees and the administration before it affects the services or get exposed to the citizens.
Recently, Traders in South Sudanese’s capital, Juba have threatened to close their shops in protest over multiple taxes levied monthly on their businesses by Authorities of Juba City Council.
The traders accused Authorities of the Juba City Council and other institutions of charging unnecessary fines and levying exorbitant taxes.
They said the charges range from 100,000 SSP to 300,000 SSP depending on the size of the shop.
Robert Pitia Francis, Chairman for Central Equatoria State Chamber of Commerce recently said traders were contemplating shutting down business unless authorities City Council scrap what they regard to be unnecessary taxes.
He also noted that the officers forcefully closed shops of businesspeople who resisted paying tariffs.
“The traders want to go for the strike and this strike can’t help us and the government. If all markets are closed because of City Council is not going to help us,” Pitia told reporters.