By: Nyima Sillah
Citizens Alliance’s senior strategic communications officer John Moses Jammeh-Sainey has opined that Gambians should be willing to pay more taxes.
He explained that Gambians should take inspiration from fellow citizens in the diaspora, who are subjected to various forms of taxation such as taxes on TV, salaries, and houses.
“These are the taxes that they use to be able to develop their countries,” Jammeh-Saine told The Voice in an exclusive interview on Monday.
He, however, highlighted the need for the enhancement of the country’s productive base for improved revenue generation.
“Once the productive base increases, you can see the revenue base also increases,” he stated.
The CA’s strategic communications officer said The Gambia should avoid revenue leakages as a tax-based economy.
“There are a lot of leakages in terms of revenue. Look at the cases of the Brikama Area Council and the KMC. When the mayor of KMC took over, the first thing he did was to avoid revenue leakages because heknew that there is no way you can generate revenue if your revenue is leaking,” he explained.
Mr. Jammeh-Saine also advised the central government to close every valve of the revenue system to avoid leakages if it’s desirous of achieving its goal of enhanced revenue mobilization.
He called for more taxes to enable local and central governments to ensure they meet the rising public demand for effective service delivery.
On broadening the country’s revenue base, Jammeh-Saine spoke about the imposition of tax on pump prices for fuel and more taxes on national documents.
