The East Sepik Provincial Government recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Internal Revenue Commission at its provincial office in Wewak.
The MOU forges a partnership between the East Sepik Provincial Government and IRC to increase compliance activities in the province.
The MOU was signed by Governor Allan Bird and his administration and IRC Commissioner General, Sam Koim.
Governor Bird described the MOU as a culmination of two-and-a-half years of preparatory work.
“One of the first thing I did when taking office as governor was to check the internal revenue resources,” stated Bird.
“I directed my administration to partner with IRC in increasing the revenue collections in the provinces. The partnership occurred more than two years ago, but this MOU simply formalises that arrangement,” he added.
In encouraging business representatives who attended the ceremony, the Governor urged the businesses to pay their fair share of taxes.
“There are businesses that faithfully pay taxes but it now boils down to the Government to provide services in return to demonstrate that the tax is actually being used for its intended purposes. If we squander the money or divert money to private pockets, it discourages businesses from willingly paying their taxes.
“It is a two-way thing and in ESP, I am doing my best to show that it is not one-way traffic.”
Commissioner General Sam Koim thanked the Governor and his administration for supporting the Wewak IRC office to carry out their work for the last two years.
“With your help, we were able to increase the collections for the last two years and in return, we have given a big share of the 60 percent of the GST collected back to the province. With the increased business activities in Maprik and now Angoram coming up, and the new agricultural projects initiated with the European Union funding, I am seeing more potential for taxes hence I will be increasing manpower at our office here,” Koim added.
The Wewak office has also been moved to a new and spacious building to cater for increased revenue collection activities.
(ESP Governor Allan Bird)