October 21, 2021
By: MOHAMED M. SESAY
The National Council for Civic Education and Development (NaCCED) in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, has yesterday the 20th of October 2021, had a fruitful roundtable discussion with journalist in order to popularize the 2021 Finance Act.
The Chairman for NaCCED Kalilu Ibrahim Totangi disclosed that sometimes in 2020, they had an agreement with the Ministry of Finance in finding ways to popularize the National Budget and the Finance Act.
He added that in every year, the Ministry of Finance pushes out the financial document including the National Budget and the Finance Act but most often the documents are voluminous and written in technical language making it very difficult for people to understand.
Kalilu Totangi continued that Because most people have not been able to read those financial documents, led the NaCCED, the Ministry of Finance and its other partners including Irish Aid and Budget Advocacy Network, decided to summarize the document for the consumption of the general public.
Early this year, they were able to put together a citizen’s budget which explains what is in the National Budget 2021.
“Today what we are doing is unveiling the highlight of the 2021 finance Act of Sierra Leone and we have also accompanied that with an animation. We implore you to take your time to read what is in the finance Act” he said.
He further stated that there are a lot of misconceptions about tax systems in this country coupled with the recently hike of prizes on commodities which has been realized to be a global issue ranging from tax percent increase across the world on food items.
He noted that Sierra Leone as one of the low income countries has felt the pinch of the global increase on food commodities. He said that the Bio Led Government has been doing some policy implementation, be it cutting taxes on food commodities in order in a good spirit of cushioning the effect of the global phenomenon on the people of Sierra Leone.
On his part, the Deputy Director of Revenue and Tax Policy Division Mohamed Salisu said the budget and Finance Bill are documents which they prepare year in and year out.
He emphasized that because the documents are so bulky, made many people not to read them and understand government policies and things that government intends doing for the country.
He said this is the first time in the history of Sierra Leone wherein, they have prepared citizens budget as well as citizens finance Act of 2021.
He continued that the more reason they decided to make such move is for them to be able to reach out to the people so that people can understand the budget and the finance Act 2021.
He further explained that the purpose of the Finance Act is to create policies in order to help the National Revenue Authority to collect more revenue for the government and also help cushion the financial effect on citizens.
He concluded by referencing that in the Finance Act, duties on rice and other consumable commodities have zero percent tax. He therefore, considered it as one of the ways governments has been able to cushion the effect of prices on food commodities in the country.