Gabon centralises taxes in bid to help business

Reuters    Translate This Article
8 March 2010

LIBREVILLE, March 8 (Reuters - Gabon has banned the levying of taxes by all agencies except by the central treasury in a bid to eradicate the plethora of local charges squeezing the margins of small businesses.

It is the latest in a series of measures by new President Ali Bongo Odimba aimed at stimulating enterprise and weaning the Gabonese economy away from fast dwindling oil revenues.

'All public receipts should be paid exclusively to the Public Treasury which will provide a receipt,' according to notes made available from a cabinet meeting held last week.

The decision applies to all direct and indirect taxes, fines, licence payments and other levies.

A government source said the measure was largely aimed at town halls whose agents demand a variety of levies from small businesses, often without clearly explaining what the charge is for, and how it was calculated.

Last year Bongo Odimba, who was elected in a disputed poll last August, announced plans to slim down a bloated civil service plagued with cronyism and corruption, and in January reformed working hours, notably banning the two-hour lunch break still common in many Francophone African countries.

(Reporting by Linel Kwatsi; Writing by Mark John; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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