Q and A Un necessary taxes should be cut off - Kigoda

Business Digest

Un necessary taxes should be cut off - Kigoda

Sunday, 13 May 2012 21:49 Kenan Kalagho 

 ( The newly appointed Tanzania Industries and Trade Minister Dr Abdhallah Kigoda  in an Interveiw with Kenan Kalagho during his swearing in, in Dar es salaam recently By Kenan Kalagho)
The Government of Tanzania recently reshuffled its' Cabinet following the Control and Auditor General’s report that implicated some ministers. East African Business Week’s KENAN KALAGHO caught up with Dr. Abdhallah Kigoda, the new Minister for Industries and Trade and below are the excerpts.

Qn. What should Tanzanians expect from your appointment?
Ans. Tanzania should expect me to deal with inflation which has affected a lot of people. There is also the need to reduce the cost of doing business in the country so as to encourage investment especially to some of the unnecessary taxes which need to be cut off and or reducing the period and unnecessary licenses because that would encourage industries to produce more.

Qn. Do you think Tanzania can become an industrialized country?
Ans. It is very possible. We have for example natural resources like iron ore, coal and gas and many others which are prerequisites for any country to industrialize.

Qn. Do you think tax exemption for investors which is causing losses in tax revenue is the best approach in attracting investment?
Ans. That depends on which taxes you are talking about because some of the tax exemptions the government is offering to investors are really genuine. For instance Kenya and Uganda's tax charges on investment is 1% of their country's GDP while in Tanzania we charge more than that.
So there is need for us to also look into that and see how these tax charges can be reduced so as to create a friendly business environment.

Qn. What are other major challenges we face in creating a friendly business environment?
Ans. There has been for instance the issue of shipping inspection where we have received a lot of complaints from different stake holders and so we need to see how we can solve some of these problems which are a hindrance to business.

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