Dave Fish, the Department for International Development (DFID) African representative, has commended Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) for the fast pace at which it has reactivated the tax base to support the government budget since 1994.

"You are doing well but other revenue bodies are facing political interference,” said Dave. The Commissioner General of RRA Mary Baine stressed that RRA was independent of government interference.

Fish was given RRA’s account by Baine of how the tax body has successfully traversed the period of 1994 when the economy was in disarray to the present situation of calm.

"In 1997 you could not tell the tax payer from the tax collector,” said Baine on Wednesday. She said that DFID’s intervention helped propel the tax body’s efforts and contributed in quickening recovery.

"They provided sole support in providing the state of the art Information Technology systems, capacity building and technical assistance,” she explained.Baine mentioned that currently the tax body is able to conduct "pre-clearance and pre-payment’’ that she attributed to the computerized taxation system that has increased the rate of efficiency. She disclosed that at the beginning, the DFID provided 21million pounds that quickened the resuscitation process.

Ends