The Minister for Finance, National Planning and Trade, Naadir Hassan, was recently in New York attending the ‘2023 Dialogue on Tax and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’, meeting held between 14th and 17th December.
The 4-day meeting focused on the important role of ‘taxation as a critical pillar in achieving the Agenda 2030 and the 17 SDGs’.
At the event, Minister Hassan was part of a high level panel discussing the theme ‘Taxation – Challenges and Opportunities for Achieving the SDGs’.
Minister Hassan noted that ‘taxation and fiscal policies are powerful tools to raise domestic resources required for funding the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’.
“Taxation plays a fundamental role in effectively raising and allocating domestic resources for the government to deliver essential public services such as schools, healthcare and other infrastructure. It is essential for sustainable development, promoting self-reliance, good governance, growth and stability.”
Furthermore, he said that tax is directly linked to development, given that taxation is a primary source of revenue for most countries, Seychelles included, and it reduces the ‘dependence and reliance on donor funding’.
“Investing in sustainable tax administration is important to re-assure adequate collection of tax revenue at the lowest cost possible to better secure equitable growth and development in the country. The latter, benefits the government and citizens as it supports continuous investment in our human capital, infrastructure, technology and innovation, which are all important for both the human and the socio-economic development of the country. The citizens can benefit from quality health care, education and other services, which contribute towards good quality of life.”
Minister Hassan also focus his discussion on building capacity and digitalization of the taxation system and how automating the process can facilitate and increase efficiency in tax revenue collection.
“Information is one of the most vital resources a revenue administration could have. It helps improve internal operations, service delivery, reporting, etc. Tax administrations around the world, including the Seychelles Revenue Commission are seeking to enhance their ICT capabilities through initiatives such as business process re-engineering, redesigning their tax systems, and automating processes”.
He noted the government is continuing to invest in SRC for capacity building for staff as well as digitalizing the current system.
To note, SRC is expected to implement a new Tax Management System in 2024, and during the past few years, there’s been continuous upgrading of the ASYCUDA World System.
During the meeting, a draft SDG Taxation Framework and the Tax for SDGs course drafted by the UNDP were launched.
On the side line of the meeting, Minister Hassan also held discussions with the United Nations Assistant Secretary General and UNDP Director of Africa, Mrs Ahunna Eziakonwa, as well as with the Assistant Administrator and Director of UNDP Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, Mr. Marco Athias Neto.
Minister Hassan was accompanied on this mission by the Seychelles High Commissioner to the UN, Ambassador Ian Madeleine, and Tax Commissioner, Mrs. Gayathri Chetty.