Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) on Tuesday, November 10, celebrated the 18th Taxpayer’s Appreciation Month in Western Province by reaching out to taxpayers in Rubavu District.

The occasion also saw outstanding taxpayers awarded in appreciation for their contribution to the country’s economic development.

This year’s Taxpayer Appreciation Month that was launched last week is being held under unprecedented times, hence the theme "support business for economic resilience.”

According to RRA, during the fiscal year 2019/2020, Rwf27.9 billion was collected as domestic tax revenue from Western Province. This represents an achievement of 92.6 percent of the Rwf30.2 billion target province had set out to achieve.

Meanwhile, local government taxes and other charges collection in Western Province amounted to Rwf9.2 billion while the target was Rwf10.6 billion. This represents an achievement of 86.6 percent to the target.

Concerning local government taxes and other fees from the province, the authority missed the target by Rwf1.4 billion but in comparison with the previous year (2018/2019), this year's collection increased by 2.7 per cent.

Missing these targets, according to RRA, was due to the Covid-19 pandemic that caused the shut-down of many businesses in mid-March.

"After Rwanda recorded the first case of Covid-19 most businesses were closed, the country was put under lockdown to curtail the spread of the virus. Industrial activities, hospitality and tourism sector and other services suffered the most and this affected our tax collection, specifically in the last two quarters for 2019/20," said Pascal Ruganintwali, the Commissioner General of RRA.

As a result of the phased resumption economic activities that began in May, tax revenue collections for the first quarter of 2020/21, in Western Province, amounted to Rwf6.80 billion against a target of Rwf6.89 billion, which indicates an achievement of 98.7 percent.

On the other hand, local government taxes and fees collected during the same quarter amounted to Rwf1.9 billion over and above the target of Rwf1.7 billion.

Ruganintwali attributed the achievement to collective efforts by both the taxpayers and the government.

He said: "Results registered in Q1 of 2020/2021 affirm the collective efforts that both the government and taxpayers have invested in recovering the economy amidst the pandemic challenges and for this, we have a concrete reason to celebrate.”

"I therefore want to encourage all taxpayers to be more vigilant in observing all the measures put in place to fight against the covid-19 pandemic as we uphold the good performance indicated,” he added.

The ongoing month-long outreach activities which will be taken across the country will be capped by the national Taxpayer Appreciation Day scheduled for 20 November 2020 in Kigali.