Paying taxes on time eases business operations and is also part of enterprise growth, Ben Kagarama, the Rwanda Revenue Authority, Commissioner General, has said.

He added that this helps the Government to provide the necessary services to the population promptly.

Kagarama was speaking ahead of the 12th Taxpayers’ Day 2013 scheduled for Saturday November 2 at RRA headquarters in Kimihurura, Kigali. 

The day is put aside to recognise taxpayers for their contribution to national development. RRA also recognises outstanding taxpayers on the same day.

This year, the taxpayers’ day will be held under the theme, "Promoting tax Compliance, collective responsibility”. 

Kagarama said the authority will continue conducting awareness campaigns to educate the public, especially small-and-medium enterprises, on the importance of paying taxes timely.

"People are no longer being forced to pay taxes. The issue of push-and-pull between taxpayers and RRA has greatly reduced. Today, everyone feels duty bound to pay taxes in time, especially after we were sensitised on the importance of taxes to national development,” Dan Ntagugura, a tax consultant at DN Associates, pointed out.

Rwanda moved up three places to 22nd globally compared to last year’s 25th on tax compliance, according to the World Bank Doing Business 2014 report that was released on Tuesday.

About 60.2 per cent of the 2013/14 financial year budget is being financed by locally-raised funds.