The presidential directive that a multi-agency team be immediately formed so as to come up with an integrated revenue collection system is a step in the right direction.
The long overdue move will now see a single tax collection system being used by both the national and county governments. The multi-agency team will draw its membership from the Commission of Revenue Allocation, the Council of Governors, the National Treasury and the Kenya Revenue Authority.
We opine that such a positive step is the way to go given that the 47 counties and the national government currently utilise 11 different revenue collection systems, which has been blamed for low levels of collection.
The situation as presently set up is a recipe for disaster and is the reason why the country loses billions of shillings through the numerous loopholes.
And as the presidential directive stated, the new system would help eliminate the current duplication of roles and wastage of resources as an integrated single process would ease the task of collecting revenue across the country.
A single system would also help iron out such hurdles by making it easier to flag problematic spots. It would also curtail the current culture where rogue officials take advantage of the red tape and different collection systems to rip off the taxpayers.
We urge the team to hasten the rollout of the new system as it will go a long way in boosting the country’s coffers.
The benefits of a single revenue collection system are numerous. Other than helping the government easily track the payments it will now be easier to fast track contingency measures.
Having a process that is seamless would go a long way in eradicating the duplicity of roles that has helped entrench corruption in the system. It will also be easier to audit the flow of funds through an integrated portal.
In order for the country to develop, it needs to come up with measures that will streamline service delivery across all sectors of the economy.
Taxpayers have been yearning for a system where payment of levies is made easier. We aver that the proposed system is a good solution.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
