Task force chosen for coming revenue agency

Finance Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila yesterday introduced the nine-member task team that will be responsible for developing an appropriate working model for the government’s envisioned semi-autonomous revenue agency. The government embarked on a comprehensive tax-reform programme three years ago, focused on modernising the country’s tax system. Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said yesterday she hoped for the agency to start operations by March 2016. “Part of the reason why we face the current backlogs is on account of the system, which can be quite bureaucratic, as well as staff shortages,” the minister said. She further confirmed the approval by Cabinet of a planned environmental tax and export levy on raw materials, which she said would not exceed 2%. “The levies are meant to support the national purse, but are not to be restrictive,” she said, adding that the suggested rates were based on careful analysis. The task force introduced yesterday is headed by the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, I-Ben Nashandi, and includes advisors and economists from the Bank of Namibia (BoN), the Ministry of Finance, and the latter’s department of Inland Revenue. They will be responsible for drafting the appropriate legal framework as well as the actual setting up of the agency.