Salone News

Choithram hospital is a charity

24 October 2019 at 19:49 | 1846 views

Opinion

By OB Sesay, Freetown

A tactical problem always provides an opportunity to design a strategic solution.

Don’t get confused. Choithram’s IS registered as a charitable foundation. And you will find several businesses in the private healthcare and education sectors registered as charities.

Why do they do it? Firstly they get off paying tax. Secondly they can win certain incentives from the government - like free land, import duty waivers etc etc. Thirdly they can apply for grant funding from development partners or other companies abroad. Some even collect from well meaning diasporans - clothes, laptops, medical supplies, books etc. For free. Then bring it home and sell.

It is a nice little earner that is a symptom of the weak systems we need to tighten up if our country is to grow.

The strategic question to address here is TAX EVASION. So why don’t we get strategic and go through the entire rooster of registered businesses in Wakanda and see which ones registered as charities are REALLY charities?

And whilst we are on the subject of tax evasion, maybe we can also do a quick audit of bank reconciliation against the declared taxable incomes provided by our ...erm....friends in the legal profession.

How much tax do lawyers pay in SL? Maybe some lawyers can help me out here. How much tax do lawyers pay in SL? How do they declare their incomes? Who verifies it?

Some supermarkets that run high powered ACs all day long have deals with EDSA staff. Same as some do with NRA over tax and customs people over duties. Others who can’t make deals find their businesses closed with extraordinary tax demands. Often with No resource.

Minister of Finance. Take a GOOD look at tax in SL. Starting with NRA and Companies House. You can thank the Awkward Order later.

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