The Gambia government and her people stand to lose millions of dalasis in revenue if the threat by foreign investors in Gambian properties land for sale to leave the country is any guide. Some Gambian investors have also threatened to close shop, triggering widespread fear in many quarters.
The threats by the business community in the country to quit business followed the tax authority` unofficial announcement today that the previous tax regime has been revisited. The present levy represents a 50 per cent increase in what the business people were paying. According to faultless information, the tax authorities are expecting to generate over D40 million in revenue this month.
`We are asked to collect over D40 this month alone. This mean we have to up the tax to about 50 per cent. It is an expectation which we have to live up to’, said a staff of the Income Tax office in an interview with our national correspondent.
However, the Gambian tax authorities may be busy working out the mathematics, the investors most of whom are foreigners are now thinking about finding a new direction to Guinea Bissau,Conakry and other destinations in the subregion.
`It was D10,000 and later D20,000. So today, they came to say they have revisited everything and we must therefore now pay D50,000 this year alone. This is very frustrating and ridiculous,` an apparently hardhit businessman told Freedom in an exclusive interview.
Many businessmen who spoke to this paper say they could not fathom the behaviour of the Gambian authorities. But many say the government has to increase the tax on businesses because it is cashstrapped.