BY BANELE MAGONGO
MBABANE– Acting Minister for Finance Mabulala Maseko has today (April 17, 2024) officially launched the Revenue Takeover, in collaboration with Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS).
This happened at the ERS Head Offices in Ezulwini. The ERS has assumed the role of collecting all revenue payments previously administered by the Ministry of Trade and Commerce.
The takeover is expected to start from May 2, 2024 and from that date, all payments to be made for the Ministry of Commerce services will be facilitated at the ERS service centres across the country. The services include company registration fees, trading licence fees, and liquor licensing fees.
This initiative aims to streamline revenue collection by entrusting full responsibility to ERS, as outlined in the Revenue Authority Act of 2008. This will be done in four phases, with Phase One commencing with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade. During the event, Maseko disclosed that all revenue line items currently collected by the Treasury Department under various Government ministries would be transferred to ERS.
The act of taking over of revenue services by ERS has been discussed for a long time now in policy formulating forums such as Parliament. MPs have been calling upon Government to transfer such services to ERS, as it was believed that with the tax collector overseeing such an important function, members of the nation could be relieved.
At the moment, the public is complaining about the poor services said to be obtained at the revenue centres around the country. People complain that they are not given an efficient service yet they go to the revenue offices to give money to Government. Long queues have been the main complain when it came to the services at these centres, yet they closed as early as 3pm.
Members of the public feel that ERS could be effective in giving services in these centres, just as the tax collector is effective in collecting all kinds of taxes within the country. The members of the public believe that with the ERS, the long queues could be a thing of the past.
