THE society for businessmen
mar city Kettering in Mbeya
city has
lodged their complains
to the Mbeya district
commissioner Dr. Norman Sigalla, on harassment they are
getting from Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) workers, while conducting
auditing on receipts for
sold goods.
The complains totaling 14
in number were
submitted to the district
commissioner who was also the
chairman of the meeting, by the
secretary of the society
for businessmen mr. Johnson Ntupwa, at Mtenda Hotel hall
in Mbeya recently.
In a speech read by
ntupwa to the dc the
businessmen complained to be
ignored by the Tanzania
revenue authority workers , who
doesn’t want to listen
to them for an
excuse once a mistake
is done on their business.
They said once a certain
mistake is committed
they face a big
penalt amounting to 3 million
shillings ,or are being forced
to pay bribe of
about 1.5 mil. Shs.
Ntupwa said the
middle class and
small businessmen are
the most affected in mbeya
city, and as a
result of the harassment
which they are getting
from the tra workers , most businessmen
have opted to leave
mbeya and shift
to other regions.
Apart from the disturbances which
they inflict to the businessmen
,the tra workers are also
reported to invade
their shops, open the safes and
start to count the money
on the goods sold
and when they finish
they claim that
those are the
days sales.
The tra workers names
listed by ther businessmen to conduct
the dirty job are
mbuya, mwakatumbula, nsobi and
madam chikoma.
Ntupwa also blamed these
people on engaging
themselves on dubious
activities of sending
childrens to the shops
to purchase biscuits
amounting to the price of 2,500/= and other
items who don’t claim
for the receipt and
when the tra
workers come back they
demand to see the
receipts and when they
fail to obtain
them, is when they charge you
with 3 mil. Shs. As a fine.
Some of the businessmen
who gave their opinions to
the dc have appealed to the
government to reduce tax
collection , because they fail
to contain hard life.
Another businessmen
named isaack mwibasi
has asked the government to take the motion back to the
parliament to be debated , so
that they get
access to implement their
jobs.
He sdaid if the government
fails to access the situation
life will be harder for them , because most
businessmen will fail to pay
their taxes because of the hard
life which they are facing now.
Earlier ,when
addressing businessmen the mbeya district commissioner
dr. norman sigalla warned
them to stop using
three receipt books
instead of one because that will create problems while auditing the
books.
Sigalla said when a person is doing business without issuing
a receipt to the customer on the goods sold,he/she is committing a fraud,
and anyone found
practising this act will be fined about 500,000-1 mil.shs. for the small
businessmen class.
‘’the government is for
the businessmen, it is not
your enemy and is your tool, therefore if you
have any problems please bring
them to us so that they get solved’’ Sigalla said.
The dc reminded the
businessmen by saying that all sales amounting to 14 mil. shs. the businessmen must possess the fixed deposit receipt [FDR] machine for issuing receipts to
customers.
He said small businessmen
will not be affected
by this exercise of owning fixed deposit receipt machines,
but this will only apply for big businessmen.
The Mbeya regional tra manager Arnold Maimu has appealed to businessmen to issue receipts to
customers after selling them their goods ,so that the
government can charge them proper tax.
He also reminded the customers to demand for the receipt
of the goods they purchase ,to
avoid problems on
auditing because many
businessmen produce a
receipt for half of the goods sold to
evade taxes.