Gambian Citizens to Pay More on Tax, National Documents…

Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Hon. Abdou Kolley has told the august assembly at the National Assembly, while presenting the 2010 budget told the gathering that excise on tax, national identification documents; road tax etc will all be increase in the year 2010.
This information was presented Friday 18 December2009 at the National Assembly in Banjul, according to Kolley, it could be recalled that, in 2008, Government zero-rated the sales tax on rice as a policy measure to minimize the impact of the food crises, thus foregoing significant revenues. “Now that we have passed the episode of high food prices and in a bid to encourage local agricultural production, Government would restore the sales tax on imported rice to 5 per cent level.”
He added that the excise tax on alcoholic products and un-manufactured tobacco will be increased in the following order: Un-manufactured tobacco from D26.04 per kilo to D75 per kilo; Wine from D100 per litre to D150 per litre; and Beer from D75 per litre to D100 per litre.
Minister Kolley noted that significant investment is being made to enhance the security features of our national identification documents by going biometric, and as a result, the cost of these documents will be increased as follows: Drivers License from D300 to D500; Provisional Learner’s License from D50 to D100; International Drivers License from D500 to 100; Passport from D500 to D1000. Furthermore, Personalised Number Plates from D2500 to D5000.
For the Road Tax Private and the Motor Vehicle Yearly License Private were last reviewed fifteen years ago. Consequently, Road tax Private will be increased as follows: Less than 1 ton, from D163 to D300; 1 to 2.5 tons from D205 to D400; and 2.5 and above from D251 to D500. The Motor Vehicle Yearly License Private will be increased as follows: 1 ton from D221 to D400; 1 to 2.5 tons from D342 to D600; and 2.5 and above from D506 to D1000.
Although the Police will still be responsible for the technical aspects of issuing vehicle number plates and motor vehicle licenses, all payments for road tax, vehicle licenses and number plates will henceforth be made with The Gambia Revenue Authority.
The license and the plates will only be issued by the police upon presentation of a Gambia Revenue Authority payment receipt adding that this will enhance revenue administration, while allowing the police to concentrate on their core functions.
The personal income tax structure is being reviewed to bring it in line with the prevailing economic conditions and to make it more progressive, fairer and revenue productive.
Also, the audit and enforcement capacity of the Department of Domestic Taxes of GRA is being strengthened in anticipation of planned introduction of a value added tax (VAT) system in place on or before January 2013. These reform measures are aimed at ensuring that our tax system remains efficient and equitable.