“Senegal has recorded tax pressure rates close to the community threshold since 2015.”
And the year 2022 confirms it. While the standard of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) is 20%, Senegal’s tax rate is 18.3%. A praised performance which pushes UEMOA to organize a meeting. Which will end next Thursday.
The objective of this seminar is to share experiences in mobilizing tax revenue between the financial authorities of the Member States of the Union. UEMOA which revised its growth forecasts for 2023 from 7 to 5.7%. This drop is mainly explained by the postponement of the start of Senegal’s hydrocarbon activities. In the meantime, UEMOA invites member countries to adapt to the Senegalese model of tax revenue collection.
“The overall objective of this seminar is to share experiences in the mobilization of tax revenues between the financial authorities of UEMOA member states (Customs, Taxes, Treasury),” announced Bassirou Sarr,
Technical advisor to the Senegalese Minister of Finance and Budget. Based on this observation, he underlined that the mobilization of internal revenues constitutes a permanent challenge for our States, as evidenced by the constant pressures exerted on customs and tax forecasts, throughout the budget cycle.
“Tax pressure is important to the extent that the optimal collection of tax revenue largely determines the success of state public policies. It allows them to have significant budgetary space for the implementation of inclusive growth policies,” he added.
The Technical Advisor to the Senegalese Minister of Finance and Budget dissected Senegal’s success. Bassirou Sarr points out that important tax reforms are being implemented within WAEMU member states, in order to facilitate the implementation of more efficient tax revenue collection tools. “The implementation of the said reforms has contributed to improving the level of tax collection in all the States of the Union,” said Bassirou Sarr.
Who estimated that “efforts must be continued and strengthened in order to increase tax revenues to at least 20% of GDP, as recommended in the latest Convergence, Growth and Stability Pact adopted by the Union”.
Mahamadou Gado, the commissioner in charge of the department of economic policies and internal taxation at the West African Economic and Monetary Union, underlines that “this meeting is of great importance for improving the mobilization of tax revenues with a view to harmonious development of the organization’s member states.
He informs that the average rate of tax pressure of the Union is at 13.8% in 2022. And to rejoice however that for certain States, the results are appreciable, in particular Senegal with 18.2%, followed by Burkina Faso with 16.3%.