Economy

2018 Budget bill, unrealistic and unreliable one, says OLUCOME

For the 2018 fiscal year, domestic resources in the general state budget account for 69.6% against 30.4% of donations. Tax revenue constitutes 60.9%, non-tax revenue 5% and exceptional revenue 3.6%. OLUCOME denounces very high taxes.

Gabriel Rufyiri: “The adoption of this bill will definitely constitute a tax burden on taxpayers”

Gabriel Rufyiri: “The adoption of this bill will definitely constitute a tax burden on taxpayers”

The recently submitted budget bill for 2018 is judged as unrealistic and unreliable by OLUCOME. Overall budget revenues are estimated at BIF 1224.12 billion, overall expenses at BIF 1388.17 billion while donations are estimated at BIF 372.25 billion. There are new tax measures for the 2018 fiscal year that were adopted to achieve this objective.

For The Observatory for the Fight against Corruption and Economic Embezzlement – OLUCOME, if the parliament adopts the submitted bill, it will allow the government to kill taxpayers. “Apart from the 11 new taxes added in 2017, the government has also added 21 new taxes for the 2018 budget bill. The adoption of this bill will definitely constitute a tax burden on taxpayers”, says OLUCOME chairman, Gabriel Rufyiri

Rufyiri says imposing very high taxes on taxpayers is one of the ways to miss all the taxes. “The government should consider the principle: too many taxes kill the tax.”
Rufyiri appeals to the government to promote again its cooperation with international aid donors in order to fight poverty and improve the living conditions of the population. “Burundian Government should seek to ensure again its technical and financial cooperation with former partners”, he says.

The international donations will pass from BIF 711,92 billion in 2013 to 372,25 billion in 2018, that is an average of 47,7% decrease.