KIGALI - Kigali City Council (KCC) has set the target of Rwf19.2bn in taxes to be collected during the 2010/2011 fiscal year.

This was revealed Thursday by the KCC vice Mayor in charge of finance and economic development, Alphonse Nizeyimana, during a Tax Advisory Council meeting at the KCC headquarters.

According to Nizeyimana, the revenues will be generated from a number of taxes in the three districts of Kicukiro, Nyarugenge and Gasabo, all of which will have a target ceiling to meet,.

"We generated 8.5bn from taxes last financial year, recording a 26 percent increase from the previous year. For this year, we expect to generate the targeted amount from; property tax, land lease tax, rental tax, and a number of channels,” said Nizeyimana.

It was also said that the city council would soon unveil an IT system which will make tax collection much easier and efficient whereby taxpayers details will be stored using a database to be created hence easy to trace.

In the meeting which was aimed at sharing information on tax and setting strategies for the way forward, officials from Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) said that the body has progressively increased its tax base since its inception in 1998.

According to the Director of Taxpayers Service Department, Gerald Nkusi Mukubu, the improvement in tax collection has enabled the establishment of better infrastructures.

He further explained that there were many challenges still ahead, but that means were being devised to counter them. Among them was the low awareness levels concerning some taxes delegated to district authorities in the government’s decentralization process.

"We need to reach our customers by an improved communication strategy, they need sensitization because many are willing to pay, but poor communication hinders this,” said Nkusi.

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