Mdondoaji,
I have just looked at your old posts kuhusu ugiriki....it must have been a very interesting debate; I don't know how I missed that; cha kusikitisha zaidi - sio kwamba wahusika hawakuyaona haya; this was like 6 months ago;
Based on your thread, kama hizo sababu ndio kansa kwenye uchumi wa Ugiriki, basi na Tanzania we have just been diagnosed with kansa, the issue ni kwamba tutaiwahi au lah; kwani vitu vikubwa humo ni matumizi makubwa na mabaya ya serikali; Usimamizi mbovu wa kodi and tax evasion; kwetu tumeona jinsi gani up to 25% of the budget ni matumizi ya ovyo (this is very discouraging); pia tumeona katika mijadala yetu mingine ingawa tunajisifia kukusanya kodi kwa wingi tofauti na miaka ya nyuma, bado haisaidii kupunguza our budget deficit; isitoshe, tumejionea wenyewe kwamba kwa mwaka tunapoteza over 30% of the our revenues to tax evasion;
Kuhusu CAG on Debt ni sahihi kabisa kwamba ni mzigo mkubwa sana kwa mlipa kodi; hii ni kwa sababu tutake tusitake ni lazima serikali to attend external debt before domestic debt kwa njia ya exports zetu ambazo ndio dollar hizo hizo we need for mafuta etc, dollar ambazo tunawakamua maskini wa vijijini kwani the biggest foreign exchange earner bado ni kilimo. Hii ndio maana deni la serikali la ndani linazidi kupata riba na kurundikana huku la nje nalo liki get out of hand; na kibaya zaidi ni kwamba hata ndani serikali inazidi kukopa – inazidi kuongeza deficit ambayo ni mafuta katika petrol ya inflation; pia kukopa ndani ina ‘crowd out' effect kwa SMEs kupata mikopo, sasa ukichanganya na hatua ya BOT juzi to reduce money supply by increasing bank rate and cash reserve requirements ndio kunapelekea huu uchumi wa Ndullu kuwa uchwara;
Katika hali kama hii, no wonder WorldBank came with a study kwamba about 71% of firms in Tanzania do not report all their sales for tax purposes; why should they wakati kwa upande mmoja wanapigwa na dhoruba la power cuts, kwingine wanapigwa na unanticipated inflation, kwingine wanapigwa na crowding effect kwenye domestic credit access kutokana na serikali kuzidisha its budget deficit?
Na kwa wananchi, VAT in Tanzania is 20%, the highest in East Africa kwani Kenya ni 16% na Uganda ni 18%; Ghana wenzetu as I said earlier wameamua kuwapunguzia mzigo wananchi on indirect tax ya VAT na kuamua ku focus on direct taxes kwenye sector ya madini na kwingineko; VAT (kodi kwenye mikate, maji ya uhai n.k) na Excise Duties (petrol, sigara, soda na Bia) kwa kweli sio suluhisho kwa nchi yenye watu million 45 ambapo over 30 million of these ni maskini wa kutupa; wengi wao wapo kwenye kilimo ambacho serikali inajaribu sana kupata mwanya wa kwenda kuwalima kodi huko as a means of expanding the tax base lakini inashindwa because a significant portion of sekta ya kilimo is not monetized ingawa ndio largest contributor wa pato letu la taifa (GDP); sekta nyingine muhimu ni ya madini but we all know kinachoendelea huko na kodi madini – kuna so many loopholes wanazotumia kukwepa kodi kupitia input zao kama mafuta n.k, let alone the meager 3% royalty charged by the government; sekta ya tatu kwa ukubwa ni utalii but huko napo based on the nature of cash transactions inawia vigumu kwa serikali kukusanya mapato kwa ufanisi kwani cash transactions always encourage tax evasion;
Sasa Serikali inabakia na nini?
Moja, kuna corporate tax at 30% - ila tunaona jinsi gani makampuni mengi ya nje yanadanganya kodi kwa kutoa taarifa za uongo, au kwa ku enjoy 5 years tax holidays (mfano Kempinski sasahivi ni Grand Hyatt na serikali imewapa pale ilipokuwa mahakama kuu ili waegeshe magari yao – angalau enzi zile magari yanayopaki pale kufuatilia kesi yalikuwa yanalipia sh 300 kwa siku to national parking system yam zee kingunge, but with the private parking lot ya Kempinski I mean Grand Hyatt, hata hizi hela tutazikosa kwani Grand Hyatt watatengeza hela zao, kodi hawalipi, na in 2016 watamleta Marriot or whoever they know); utapeli mwingine wa makampuni ya nje ni kupitia ‘tranfer pricing' ambapo wanacheza na subsidiaries zao; Nje ya corporate tax kinachobakia ni VAT & excise duties kama tulivyokwisha ona;
Kwahiyo we are more likely to collapse kimapato kutokana na sababu za sekta ya kilimo (see above); sekta ya madini (see above); VAT ambayo hata wenzetu Ghana wameona ni mzigo wa wananchi; na Excise duty ambayo ni kodi measured by the amount of business done – na hutozwa kwenye sigara, bidhaa za mafuta, soda na bia;
Ebu tuitazame Excise Duty Kidogo:
By convention, excise hutoswa kulingana na volume yako ya business (production for instance); hii ina maana kwamba Cha kusikitisha ni kwamba kam Excise duty zinategemea volume of business, ina maana kwamba mgao wa umeme unapunguza uzalishaji wa sigara, bia, soda, hivyo kupelekea serikali kukusanya less taxes; as a matter of fact according to confederation of industries in Tanzania, uzalishaji Tanzania ulipungua by 50% kutokana na mgao wa umeme meaning, leaving other things constant, mgao umeme serikali mapato ya excise by 50% at least; Si ajabu ndio maana mapato ya serikali mwaka huu wa fedha yameshuka sana (see below):
| Financial Period | Domestic Revenue (Tsh) | Foreign Aid (Tsh) | Overall Budget (Tsh) | AID (Ushoga) as % of total budget | Domestic Revenue as % of total budget |
| 2007 – 2008 | 3.5 trillion | 2.5 trillion | 6.1 trillion | 41 % | 57 % |
| 2008 – 2009 | 4.8 trillion | 2.4 trillion | 7.2 trillion | 33 % | 66 % |
| 2009 – 2010 | 6.3 trillion | 3.1 trillion | 9.5 trillion | 33 % | 66 % |
| 2010 – 2011 | 8.3 trillion | 3.2 trillion | 11.6trillion | 28 % | 72 % |
| 2011 - 2012 | 6.7 trillion | 3.9 trillion | 13.5 trillion | 28 % | 49 % |
Mkullo during the 2011 – 2012 budget alitamka kwamba lengo ni ifikapo 2015 dependency ya AID or Ushoga on our budget iwe in single digits i.e under 10%; malengo mazuri ila iwapo itatekelezeka; lakini based on challenges za ukusanyaji kodi tulizokwisha ziona hapo juu, hii itakuwa kazi sana kufanikisha;
Ili kuthibitisha kauli yangu kwanini I dare to challenge Mkullo's target – ebu tuangalie namba muhimu sana hapa chini:
Kwanza tujiulize –
budget dependency on aid kawaida inashushwa na vitu gani? Tusisahau kwamba deni letu la nje limetulemea na la ndani linaelekea kuifilisi kabisa serikali kama bado haijafilisika; na tusisahau kwamba priority ya malipo ya madeni always huwa ni madeni ya nje kwanza then ya ndani.
Sasa turudi kuangalia uchumi Uchwara wa Mkullo na Ndullu wenye maneno mazuri kwamba by 2015, lengo ni Tanzania kushusha budget dependency on AID from current level of 28% to under 10% by the year 2015;
Swali:
Inakuwaje hapo kwenye jedwali tunaona marue rue – contribution of AID towards the budget for the financial year 2010 – 2011 was at 28% and contribution of domestic revenue on that budget was 72%; then look closely, in the following financial year i.e. 2011 – 2012 contribution ya AID on the budget was still at 28% but the contribution of domestic revenue fell very sharply from 72% to 49%? Hapa ndipo kuna tatizo lote la Uchumi Uchwara wa Mkullo na Ndullu na ndio kiini cha kansa itayotupelekea kuwa mufilisi huku tukiwa
TUMETHUBUTU, TUMEWEZA NA TUNASONGA MBELE.