No tax exemption for public officers

Does the proposed constitution permit government officials to be exempt from paying taxes?

The current Constitution does not, by itself, make any prescriptions that determine payment of taxes by respective government officers.

In other words, the current Constitution is silent on issues of payment of taxes or exemptions for public officers.

However, there are Acts of Parliament that clearly exempt certain categories of public officers from payment of taxes on their salaries or other allowances.

An example is a section of the National Assembly Remuneration Act under which MPs are exempt from payment of taxes on their allowances.

Other taxes, including stamp duty, that may be waived under the Stamp Duty Act or the Income Tax Act, which exempts all of the President’s income from taxation.

The exemption from taxes is, therefore, statutory and not provided for in the current Constitution.

Article 210 of the proposed constitution takes a more direct view of taxes. It states that where a tax exemption is permitted by law, there must be a public record of each case with a reason for the move.

The public will, therefore, be able to check and interrogate the reasons for the waiver of any person or institution.

In addition to the duty of maintaining a public register, there is a requirement that the waiver and supporting reason for it must be reported to the auditor- general.

Article 210(3) is clear that no law may exempt anyone from tax by reason of his office or the nature of work that he or she does for the government.

This means that Parliament shall no longer be able to pass any law that exempts any public officer from payment of taxes.

The other implication is that if the proposed constitution is adopted, provisions of the Acts of Parliament which currently exempt public officers such as MPs and judges shall become void.