ERS pays staff E316 million
MBABANE –Perceivably, the taxman has high pay for its staff. According to the 2022–23 Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) Integrated Annual Report, the payment of staff accounts is one of the highest costs incurred.
Staff salaries and benefits were, in fact, the highest expenses, accounting for E316 930 579 in the period under review.
The statement of accounts reflects an increment from E289 564 272, which was recorded in the previous review.
When staff salaries and administrative expenses are added, they both account for E461 million in costs.
This is from an income of E501 million that ERS received from the government.
The annual report reveals that ERS employed 616 permanent employees by the end of March 2023, with 30 workers having been engaged on contract.
RETIRED STAFF MEMBERS
The organisation has received 13 resignations, three retired staff members, and four employees whose contracts had ended.
ERS said it continued to ensure continuity and skill transfer in critical areas.
This reflects that there are critically important jobs.
ERS also said that 10 employees were on the Scarce Skills and Retention Programme.
Despite these costs, the ERS still had an E3.8 million surplus from the E2.6 million of the previous year under review.
In the financial year 2022–23, ERS collected over E12 billion as revenue for government.
It was considered the highest tax revenue growth since 2017/18, increasing by 11.6 per cent when compared to the previous year of E10.786 billion.
The ERS Integrated Annual Report was tabled by Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg during the House of Assembly last Friday.
TAX REVENUE INCREASE
The 11.6 per cent tax revenue increase was higher than the six per cent nominal gross domestic product (GDP) increase projected independently by the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) and the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development.
The report covers the financial year beginning April 1, 2022, and ending March 31, 2023.
It is where company and fuel taxes recorded significantly below the target.
COMPANY TAX COLLECTIONS
Company tax collections were negatively affected by a reduction in taxable incomes from major contributing economic sectors, such as the manufacturing, information and communication, and agriculture sectors, while fuel taxes were impacted by the supply changes experienced during the financial year.
Value-added tax (VAT), road tolls, and other income taxes (OIT) recorded positively above target, mainly due to the improved administrative measures put in place during the year to enhance revenue collection.
The ERS Commissioner General, Brightwell Nkambule, attributed the high tax revenue collection to, in part, the deliberate efforts taken by the organisation to improve customer service and effective revenue improvement initiatives.
VOLUNTARY COMPLIANCE
He said the organisation continued to implement its Strategic Plan for 2021/22–2023/24, guided by the vision to attain 100 per cent voluntary compliance for a better Kingdom of Eswatini and the theme to be a digitalised and data-driven organisation with their partners.
Meanwhile, putting the Republic of South Africa out of the equation, Eswatini has increased its export output.
While South Africa accounts for 69.31 per cent of exports and is the number one trading partner, with Eswatini getting E23.477 million in income in the financial year 2022/23, a majority of the 10 other key trading
partners recorded increased products from the country.
Trading with Kenya, E1.650 billion in exports from Eswatini contributed 4.80 per cent of the total contribution to exports, increasing by 4.28 percent in 2022/23.
Eswatini sold essential oils, sugar preparations and honey to Kenya, which was followed by Mozambique as the third trading partner.
A total of E1.410 billion of essential oils and beverages were sold to Mozambique.
This reflects 4.10 per cent of total contributions to exports. The goods increased by 33.68 per cent from 2021/22.
Nigeria came as the fourth export partner, where E1.066 billion of goods were sold.
The total contribution to exports was 3.10 per cent. The goods sold were mainly essential oils and chemical materials and products.
However, there was a 20.75 per cent decrease in exports to Nigeria from 2021/22.
CONTRIBUTION TO EXPORTS
The decrease was also seen in Zimbabwe, where Eswatini sold E0.658 billion in goods with a total contribution to exports of 1.91 percent.
There was, however, a 21.89 percent decrease from 2021/22. Goods exported to Zimbabwe were essential oils, chemical materials, and products.
Other exporting partners were Tanzania, which maintained 0.58 per cent exports, and the United States of America, with an increase to 058 per cent in 2022/23 from 0.26 per cent in 2021/22.
These were followed by Uganda with an increase of 0.4 percent in exports, while Italy, Botswana, and Namibia recorded 024 per cent in exports, in that order.
ERS states that essential oils accounted for 5.27 per cent with E9.880 billion, while sugars, sugar preparations, and honey netted 6.66 per cent with E7.284 billion, followed by chemical materials and products of 7.23 per cent (E4.485 billion) as the top three exported products.