The lack of awareness about new taxation system based on daily incomes assessment confused the business communities.
In discussion forum organized by WMC, it was indicated that there were exaggerated valuations of tax on business people who used to earn lower daily income.
However, the Ethiopian Customs and Revenue Authority said that the new tax valuation system is not meant impose unfair tax on legal business communities.
The Authority said that it is ready to correct mistakes, which may happen in the course of enforcing the system.
Studies undertaken on tax and revenues indicated that the country has so far tapped a capacity to collect only 13 percent of its revenue from tax, which is the lowest from Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Authority collects half of the 40-50 billion birr, the amount Addis Ababa could generate.
Taking into consideration the devaluation of the money, the Authority revised the tax system beginning from last April by assessing the daily income of the City’s 330 thousand business people.
However, from the beginning the study did not invite the business community for consultations, failed to make itself familiar and did not consider the sale of the business people for consecutive days, it was rather taken on a one day sale basis that led to three-to four fold tax evaluation, as transpired in discussion.
Representatives from the business community, said it was totally exaggerated as compared from what we sale daily.
Customs and Revenue officials, however, said that delay in the study of tax based on daily income assessment hampers fair taxation system.
Officials said that the new system is meant to put people out of the taxation into the system but not to impose unfair tax on legal business people.
Officials also said that there were people shutting off their shops while daily income assessment study was underway and were not cooperative to data collectors.
Officials also said that the authority will extensively work on awareness creation on the system so that fair taxation prevails in the country.