By Zweli Martin Dlamini
Africa-Press – Eswatini. It must be very clear that, this country does not have a revenue administration crisis, the Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) collects taxes and then hand over those taxes to the Eswatini Government, paying tax remains legal obligation under domestic and international laws.
Citizens must not fight or demonstrate a hostile attitude towards the revenue institution but after paying tax, they must demand accountability of the public funds from King Mswati and his Government because taxes must improve the lives of the people not to feed a few alleged political thieves.
The Eswatini Revenue Service has introduced a schedule of transactions requiring a Tax Compliance Certificate (TCC), the ERS system is one of the best in this country, once you pay and comply with tax laws, you just download the Tax Clearance Certificate.
This means, it’s not difficult to obtain a Tax Clearance Certificate if you are complying with tax laws, some of the operational systems in this country meet international standards, the problem is the political administration.
But we cannot promote a culture of non-compliance with tax laws just because we disagree politically with those in power, taxes must be paid but the money must pay elderly grants, buy drugs in public hospitals, fund the rehabilitation of roads in the rural areas, pay scholarships for deserving University students, increase salaries for civil servants, fund the education system and other social services.
Indeed, we must educate the public about the importance of paying tax because if we promote a culture of non-compliance, we will collapse this country, whether you are progressive or conservative, you use the same roads and go to the same hospital and therefore, paying tax must be separated from the diverse political ideologies.
Government must promote a culture of compliance with tax laws by using the public funds to provide social services, emaSwati must see the value for being tax compliant.
