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BURS’ search for missing tax billions starts with booze industry

In the spotlight: The BURS’ hunt for tax dodgers is starting with the alcohol and tobacco industry PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE
In the spotlight: The BURS’ hunt for tax dodgers is starting with the alcohol and tobacco industry PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE

The taxman plans to institute a controversial “track and trace” system for the alcohol and tobacco industry this year, a sector it says is among those responsible for the loss of up to P3 billion every year in unpaid taxes. The system’s introduction ends after a six-year battle that went all the way to the Finance Ministry, reports Staff Writer, MBONGENI MGUNI

Experts at the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) believe that if every taxpayer in the country paid their dues, there would either have been no need for the shock tax increases last year or at least the levels of the increments would have been lower.

Instead, a highly revealing tax gap analysis by the agency has found that up to 60 percent, or nearly two in three taxpayers are dodging their obligations, meaning a higher burden on those who actually pay their dues.

Editor's Comment
Khama, Masisi should rise above personal differences

Hurt as he may have been, former president Ian Khama, Sir Seretse’s senior son who was given an opportunity to speak on behalf of the Seretse family, couldn’t mince his words as he took advantage to shred his successor Mokgweetsi Masisi to pieces.He, however, did not clearly mention names but he referred to Masisi as the leader of a political party that was founded amongst others by his father.He would also address him as the former State...

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