Revenue driven by tax: ENB boss

EAST New Britain’s annual internal revenue is largely driven by tax, says acting provincial administrator Wilson Matava.
Matava said 72 per cent of the annual provincial internal revenue was from various taxes.
He said these were the good and services tax, tax on rentals and leases and book-makers tax.
Matava said ENB had collected K19,559,000 from GST, K200,000 from rentals and leases tax and K301,600 from book-makers tax.
“This totals to 72 percent of the provincial internal revenue budget,” he said.
Matava said the provincial government internal revenue budget was K27,857,000 for 2016 and supported administrative components.
He said the provincial government’s other current sources of internal revenue included the Motor Vehicle Insurance Limited, driving licences, toll fees, short term investments, dividends from the ENB Development Corporation and sundries.
Matava said provincial government was working on establishing a memorandum of understanding that would be part of a national drive to create consistency in tax revenue collection in all provinces.
He also noted the challenges faced when collecting tax in the province.
“Some tax payers in the province are not complying with the Income Tax 1959 and other revenue legislations that were administered by Internal Revenue Commission,” he said.