GRA boss underscores role of his institution in national development

Commissioner General Yankuba Darboe was speaking during a recent exclusive aired on West Coast Radio and hosted by veteran broadcaster, Peter Gomez.

He indicated that one of GRA’s functions is to assess, charge, levy and collect revenue due to government in accordance with Section 14(1) (A).

The withdrawal and expenditure of monies generated by GRA from the taxpayers’, he added, is entirely based on government’s decision on where the monies will be spent.

“Of course the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs as their line ministry are at the core -centre but the decision of how the money will be spent is the responsibility of central government” he added.

According to him, as a revenue authority their role is to collect revenue, saying GRA with its committed and determined staff do this with utmost seriousness.

Commissioner Darboe further cleared the air that the expenditure of monies collected by GRA from the taxpayer lies on the other side of the government, which he said, is a collective government effort.

“I don’t want to talk about that because that means I will over step my responsibility, while my responsibility stops at collecting and once I collect everything is send to the Central Bank. And there it is the government responsibility to decide what to do with the money collected by GRA from the taxpayers” he further explained.

He assured that the management of GRA remain ever committed to it mandates of collecting the much-need revenue for the state and enforcing the revenue laws.

“In addition, the GRA management in consultation with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs are ready to support all businesses during this challenging period of covid-19”.

GRA boss equally expressed appreciation for the increasing level of tax compliance from the public enterprise companies, which he said, has boosted revenue collection during this difficult period of corona virus pandemic.

He revealed that so far GRA had collected D7 billion from January to end July, further expressing optimism that despite the difficult period amid coronavirus pandemic which has already paralyzed global economies, GRA will surely achieve its set target revenue before the end of the year.