Government has challenged the Malawi Revenue authority (MRA) to collect over K150 billion every month in revenue to advance its development agenda.
This is despite the Authority having difficulties to beat their K90 billion monthly target for the better part of the year.
However, it has transpired that, in October, MRA collected over 120 billion, beating its monthly target by about K4 billion.
This came out following a visit Minister of Finance Felix Mlusu paid the board and management of the authority at its Msonkho House in Blantyre on Monday.
Mlusu said Treasury wants the authority to be innovative and explore ways of tapping into the informal sector to expand the tax base.
“…the demands are more on our budget that is why we are pressing on MRA to improve their mobilisation in terms of revenue collection so that we can fund these projects without us having to go out and borrow money to run these projects and the figure we are talking about is not beyond their reach.
“We are pleased with initiatives MRA is putting in place because it is not just about increasing the tax rate; it is also the issue of expanding that tax base. We know that there are a lot of areas where businesses are not being taxed because we just do not have the means and the systems to reach out there,” Mlusu said.
MRA Commissioner General John Bizwick said the target could be attained.
“We are having several initiatives we are undertaking,” Bizwick said.
According to the 2020/21 national budget, domestic revenues have been projected at K1.179 trillion, representing 16.5 percent of Gross Domestic Products.
Of the said amount, K1.116 trillion is expected to come from tax revenue while K63.1 billion is from other revenues.
