Under the auspices of its Tax Education Unit, the GRA held an all-important seminar yesterday at the University’s Auditorium in Kanifing.
Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the Commissioner General, GRA Human Resource Director Ernest Mendy, said the seminar would expose students to fundamental issues of tax system that every citizen needs to understand, particularly university students who are either taxpayers or future ones.
“It may interest you to know that the holding of seminars to engage stakeholders is derived from Goal 2 (Optimize client service delivery for improved customer relation and corporate image) of the GRA’s Corporate Strategic Plan 2020-2024,” Mr Mendy said.
According to him, given that the Authority’s mandate as per the GRA Act 2004 (revised in 2010) is exclusively on tax administration, the Authority remains steadfast in pursuing the mandate by ensuring that citizens and entities understand the tax system, know their rights and honour their obligations to pay their fair share of taxes as legislated by the National Assembly of The Gambia.
He said the GRA, like many other tax administrations in Africa, “is faced with the perennial problem of compliance” with the revenue laws.
The problem of non-compliance “strongly impedes” revenue mobilisation thus the need for the continuous engagement, sensitisation and education of the public and businesses, he said.
“It is gratifying to note that today’s event is the second engagement with the University of the Gambia,” he said, adding:“This, I am made to understand, emanated from a request from the executive of the students, given the size of the institution and the intrinsic link between taxation and national development.”
“The GRA strongly believes through such engagement the UTG staff and students will contribute significantly to information sharing thereby creating awareness of the mandate of GRA, the different tax types, the tax laws and most specifically, the importance of paying tax or being tax-compliant to boost our revenue mobilization efforts.
“It is also hoped that this seminar will strengthen our collaboration to support the implementation of the government’s tax reform initiatives aimed at improving revenue collection for national development.”
Mr Mendy says further that the Authority has undertaken and “continues to take major strides” to reform and automate its operations to enhance efficiency.
For his part, the director of Finance at UTG, Ousainou Corr, said: “This collaborative venture is expected to widen the UTG students’ understanding of taxation towards our national development aspirations. This objective fits well within the Chancellor’s strategic objectives to strengthen one of the core tendencies, which is teaching and learning that anchors on the functionality of a university.”
He therefore urged the students to make maximum use of the seminar to improve their understanding, which will be useful now - as knowledge is power - and in their future endeavours.
