Mhondoro-Ngezi rakes in $700 000 in taxes

THE Mhondoro-Ngezi Rural District Council, which is arguably one of the best performing local authorities in Zimbabwe, collected $700 000 in taxes and operated at 70 percent capacity in the first three quarters of the year.

This, according to a financial report from the local authority, represented a 20 percent increase in revenue inflows compared to the same period last year.

Income-generating projects

The Zanu-PF-led council last year collected about $570 000 in taxes from January to September, which translates to a collection rate of 49,34 percent.

The council also struck the right chords in managing its various income-generating projects after its sales performance increased to 94,73 percent from 65,57 percent fn the preceding year.

The report highlighted a slightly low revenue performing budget this year compared to the same period, citing the tight liquidity situation“Actual collections amounted to $3 190 568,53 vis-a-vis a target of $4 041 284,78 as at September 2018, representing a 78,95 percent performance level against a comparative 90,26 percent during the same period for the previous year,” reads the report.

Cordial relations

“The bulk of the actual revenue collected was realised from rates, sales, licences and taxes which contributed $523 983,51, $1 140 293,05, $115 624,15 and $699 834,28 respectively.”

In an interview, council chairman Alderman Ephraim Chengeta said cordial relations between councillors and management were contributing significantly to the success of the projects.

At least more than half of the councillors retained their seats after a successful tenure which saw their budget performance closing the year 2017. 1t 99 percent.