Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, February 6:

Finance minister Madhukar SJB Rana today directed senior officials of the ministry to effectively carry forward the ‘anti-corruption drive’ across the board and improve service delivery.

Rana said corruption is deep-rooted in the society. Therefore, we need to strengthen accountability, transparency, participation and competency of government services and bring about ‘good governance’.

Speaking at a programme on tax administration, attended by various heads of different tax offices, the minister sought help from government officials to control corruption, money laundering and tax evasion.

“The bottomline is that people should get relief and services for them should become effective and fast. These are the major objectives of the royal proclamation,” he told government officials.

He said that the working style of bureaucrats should change. He was of the opinion that a public-private partnership in the decision-making process is also needed, as the private sector has to lead the economy in today’s competitive market, while the government has to improve its policies.

The minister hinted that income tax and other excise duties might be reduced if we could find alternative sources of revenues. He said that licence Raj and exemptions are fuelling corruption, therefore these need to be ‘analysed’ carefully. He said that supplementary tax should be made zero.

He underlined the need for Nepal to be self-reliant by effectively utilising resources. This will generate more revenues for the national coffer, he said. “Nepal’s tax potential as a whole has to be re-studied seriously to increase revenues, as not even 50 per cent tax potential of the Kathmandu valley is being tapped yet.”

Similarly, finance secretary, Bhanu Prasad Acharya called upon all senior level bureaucrats to bring in a difference in service delivery to people. People have to receive government services in time and with ease for which a changed mindset is needed, finance secretary said.

“The grievances of taxpayers have to be handled carefully by improving our working style,” said the secretary, pointing to senior level government officials. Cotrolling corruption is the

government’s major objective for which all officials under the ministry have to work seriously, he hoped. Enforcement has to be strengthened which will help in increasing revenue collection, he said.

Lene Bendix, chief technical advisor to Revenue Administration Support (RAS), an alliance of German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and Danish International Agency (DANIDA), suggested making enforcement issues more effective, improve the quality of audit and compliance of taxpayers. Bendix said that a sound service to taxpayers is crucial, while undergoing reforms and collecting taxes.

Abhanindra K Shrestha, director general of Inland Revenue Department (IRD), also directed officials to work dilligently against tax evasion, meet targets, expand the tax net and strengthen the billing system. “We still have not been able to become taxpayer-friendly as discipline continues to take a beating,” said Shrestha. “In a functional way, we need to reform and create public trust,” he added.