Prime Minster Hon James Marape has commended the exemplary leadership shown by the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) under Mr. Sam Koim.
The Prime Minister made these remarks on the achievements of the IRC announced last Friday. IRC launched its 2022 Annual Plan last Friday, where its 2021 achievements were also released.
The IRC reported a total collection of K9.596 billion last year, exceeding the target of K375 million. There is a clear vision to transform IRC into a robust, modern and efficient tax administration so that taxes can be collected at an optimal and sustainable level.
The Prime Minister said, “My Government made a deliberate decision to appoint someone from outside in Mr. Koim who has been a great advocate in public institutions. Taking back PNG for IRC is proving a success where revenue leakages are being patched, and the right amount of taxes are being collected. My government has not increased any taxes. All we are doing is taking ownership of what has always been lost, like the GST Section 65A project.”
Eight months into office, the Marape-Basil government was hit by the corona virus pandemic. The pandemic posed a serious threat to government revenues. When commenting on the Covid-19 pandemic impacts on performance, Mr. Marape said, “The covid restrictions and the greater impact on the economy were genuine excuses for the IRC to perform budgetary expectations.”
“I am aware that many of our government institutions’ operations were disrupted by covid-19. We expect our merit-based bureaucracy to rise above ongoing and emerging challenges. Sadly, our meritocracy is taking us far as mediocrity in most cases. The heads of government’s institutions need to build resilience and agility to address emerging stresses like covid-19. IRC’s performance speaks volumes of an organization that is beating the coid-19 disruptions, and I expect all other agencies to step up.”
He said despite the general downturn in the economy due to covid-19, the Marape government increased government spending and, to meet that, also increased government revenue projections.
Speaking of his government’s strategy Mr. Marape said, “Past governments did not leave anything in the reserves to offer packages of economic stimulus lie other advanced countries did. Therefore as part of our response to covid-19 induced economic impacts, we deliberately increased government spending in the last three years. This we did so, hoping that the spending will stimulate the economy and make it back to the government coffers in taxes to support ongoing government budgetary commitments. It was a risk weve taken knowing that the IRC was widening its net to collect the taxes, and IRC has not let us down.
“A dependable bureaucracy can only deliver our government’s policy objectives, and if IRC can do it, I cannot see why other government agencies cannot,” he added.