SoC01 Of taxing our way to prosperity: a priority tug of war

Kristie Habakuki · 2021-09-19T14:45:05+00:00

Regardless of the diverse in cultures and ideologies spread throughout all of humanity, one thing is certain; we all fantasize of becoming prosperous. If you haven't yet subscribe to this fantasy, I promise you will, countless times. Prosperity is not only an individual desire. The history of human experience proves that prosperity is also a collective dream, whether it's of a family, an institution or a community in general. But fantasies are nothing and will bear us no fruits if we remain in the world on inactions. There has to be a list of quantifiable actions followed religiously in order for the dream of prosperity to be realised. At a nation's level, this list includes efficient tax collection among other things. Tax collection has evolved over the years and has been adopted throughout the world. A tax by definition, is a compulsory contribution to state revenue, levied by the government on workers' income and business profits or added to the cost of some goods, services and transactions. Recently, there was a rippling of anger, concern and confusion from the citizens of Tanzania as the government introduced a new tax on monetary mobile transactions. Where money transfer was made easy, accessible and reliable, there now seemed to be a new vulture waiting to take a huge chunk of money at the end of every transaction made. It is not shocking that some agencies of mobile money transfer such as MPesa and Tigopesa have closed down their businesses. This is because more and more customers reverted back to using cash, and only make mobile transactions when absolutely necessary. The Managing Director of Vodacom Tanzania, Hisham Hendi admitted and expressed his concerns to the drastic decline of revenue in mobile network operations after introduction of the levy. Even now that the levy has been reduced by 30% , still people are in constant search to explore cheaper options of money transfer. The question therefore, is why is it that something the government believes will elevate us as a nation, being faced with such a negative reception ? Perhaps there is an extreme polarity of the nation's dream of prosperity versus the citizens' individual dreams of prosperity. We could blindly give credit to the people who made the required research which led to the approval of this new levy, just not to insult their intelligence ( I am sure they're extremely qualified people). But in doing so, we then assume the mass complaints are an overreaction, coming from people who are used to having it easy. Let us delve into the experiences of a particular group of people to whom the first allocation of funds from the mobile money tax is supposed to help. Over a period of four weeks since the levy was introduced, the government was able to collect 48 billion Tanzania shillings. Out of which, 22 billion Tanzanian shillings were allocated to the ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elders and Children. More specifically, to build 90 new health centres. All in the name of improving health services in our country, a good course in deed. The list of these new health centres to be built was made available to the public, and as you might have guessed, they are located in rural/remote areas. Considering that most people living in such areas belong to the low income community, how will the government ensure that health services are not only available but also affordable as well to these communities, now that there is an extra hole to their pockets constantly sucking away their earnings? Moreover, in the past, there had been cases of health centres being abandoned for years in the middle of construction, while others make it to the completion phase only for them to lack health practitioners and thus remain empty. In September 15th, 2021 it was announced that the ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elders and Children has released a guide to hospitals and health centres on making use of health practitioners through the system of volunteering. These health practitioners who are not yet officially employed and therefore have no stable/reliable income are in no way excluded from the new monetary mobile tax, and yet they are at the forefront towards the successful of this project. Suppose the transparency spirit (as exhibited by making the list of health centres public)doesn't die out, the money will be put in good use, and there will be no delay or abandonment of buildings midway. In such a case, it is safe to say some of these health practitioners who will be volunteering will have to live with the stress that their work environment is toxic and exploitative. We will therefore have a ministry of health that has achieved it's goal of building health centres but at the expense of; the decline of revenue in mobile network operations, a community who can now barely afford the health services, and the mental wellbeing of volunteering health practitioners. Meaning the priority of the government may on the surface seem as though it serves its people but in reality, the individual dreams of financial prosperity are being crushed. In conclusion, this difference in priorities between a government and it's people will never be solved by a charade of transparency that comes after the commencement of pre-made decisions which render the wellbeing of a certain group of people, a collateral damage. There has to be a system that allows inclusivity in decision making from the most foundational level in order to come up with solutions that set both individual prosperity dreams and the nation's collective prosperity dream in the same direction.

Thread starter Kristie Habakuki
Start date Sep 19, 2021

Stories of Change - 2021 Competition

Kristie Habakuki

JamiiForums uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.

Accept Learn more…

Back

Top Bottom

Forums

New posts

SoC01 Of taxing our way to prosperity: a priority tug of war

Kristie Habakuki

New Member

Our Community

Regional Communities