National-News

Thwarting contraband to boost revenue

— January 31, 2019 268 comments

The Ministry of Revenue announced that it has recently collected 83 billion birr (close to 3billion USD) from tax and non-tax revenues over the past five months.

Indicating the revenue from various sources is minimal when compared with the target set to achieve, the ministry noted that the very reason for the decline is the ever-increasing contraband trade. As a country undergoing an overall reform, the importance of an effective revenue collection system to support the state  pparatus is crystal clear. Hence, the government has to take economic measures in order to thwart smugglers and encourage businesspersons who abide by the law, experts and officials say.

Dr. Atilaw Alemu is an Economist at Addis Ababa University. For him, contraband is an effort to evade a tax which causes the state to lose a significant amount of income. “Besides, contraband destabilizes the market and fair competition. It poses a threat on legal traders as they cannot compete with contrabandists,” he says. In short, the impacts of contraband narrow down or close the window of opportunity for legal business people.

Hence, the market would not be able to treat all the actors fairly. In addition, banned goods that are imported illegally do not meet national standards and hence are dangerous to the health of citizens, he adds. Dr. Atilaw also says contraband

trade may discourage legal manufacturers and hence force them to produce below capacity.  Fantaye Abate, an Attorney for Crimes related to Economic Affairs Referring Customs Proclamation 859/2014/1/, Fantaye says that the act of smuggling is prohibited by the law. As to Fantaye, a trader who needs to import or export a given product has to acquire the permission of the third party. For instance, without the permission of the National Bank, possessing hard currency is not allowed. The same is true for goods such as mines, medicines and other.

Fantaye adds that a person who, knowingly or ought to have been aware of the fact, imports or exports or attempts to import or export prohibited goods under the cover of legally declared goods shall be punishable with rigorous mprisonment not less than five years and not exceeding ten years and with fine, not less than Birr 50,000 and not exceeding Birr 200,000, he stated.

The Law in addition states, “Any person who transports, stores, possesses, offers for sale or buys goods referred to in sub-article (I) of this Article while being or ought to have been aware of the fact shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment not less than three years and not exceeding five years and with fine not less than Birr 50,000 and not exceeding Birr 100,000.”  Dr. Atilaw suggests that in order to control contraband, first of all, the government should clear its tructure and expose corrupted officials who directly or indirectly support or cooperate with smugglers.

On the other hand, even though, there are laws that penalize the act of smuggling, contrabandists are always taking calculated risks. Identifying the  reason why businesspersons prefer to engage in contraband is a solution to the problem, he states adding when there is a shortage of foreign currency, for instance, the merchants are forced to engage in smuggling to address the intricacy. So, considering the pros and cons of legal procedure, the government should come up with a mechanism to ease the problem, Dr.Atilaw advises.

Problems related to logistics, the legal process such as opening Letter of Credit are also factors that affect the legal business practice. So, besides conducting in-depth research on the issue, taking economic measure is crucial in order to encourage legal merchants, he adds.“Above all, the major factor in encouraging contraband trade in Ethiopia is the network structure.

There are people in checking points who deal with smugglers to share the benefit out of the illegal duty.” Fantaye says that though the law lays high level of penalty over wrongdoers, some limitations are clearly observed so as to dry the act to smugglers once and for all. Loopholes related to the working system, limitation of supervisors in checkpoints, and low level of awareness are factors contributing to expanding contraband in Ethiopia.

Herald January 31/2019

By Girmachew Gashaw

 

Recommended For You

Modernized TVETs fuel Addis Ababa’s dev’t drive

Nat’l Park supports Ethiopia’s climate resilience

Art powers Ethiopia’s future : Minister

“Belik” campaign officially launched

268 Comments to “Thwarting contraband to boost revenue”

  2. Whoa! This blog looks exactly like my old one! It’s on a entirely different topic but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Excellent choice of colors!

  16. I am now not positive where you’re getting your information, however good topic. I needs to spend some time learning much more or understanding more. Thank you for wonderful information I used to be in search of this information for my mission.

  21. En hızlı yatırım çekim imkanı ile Jestbahis her zaman en önde! Ayrıcalıklı 7/24 Hizmet ve benzersiz bonus seçenekleri için sizleride bekleriz.

  27. Hi there colleagues, how is everything, and what you would like to say regarding this paragraph,in my view its genuinely awesome designed for me.

  30. Hi, I do believe this is an excellent blog. I stumbledupon it 😉 I will revisit yet again since i have saved as a favorite it. Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich and continue to help other people.

  31. I will immediately snatch your rss feed as I can notfind your email subscription hyperlink or newsletter service.Do you have any? Please let me know so that I may just subscribe.Thanks.

  38. Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but afterlooking at many of the posts I realized it’s new to me.Anyhow, I’m definitely happy I stumbled upon it and I’ll be book-marking it and checking back regularly!

  41. I needed to thank you for this wonderful read!! I certainly loved every little bit of it. I have you saved as a favorite to look at new things you postÖ

  45. Oh my goodness! Incredible article dude! Thanks, HoweverI am having issues with your RSS. I don’t know why Iam unable to join it. Is there anybody else having identical RSS problems?Anyone who knows the answer will you kindly respond? Thanx!!

  46. I just like the valuable information you provide on your articles.I’ll bookmark your blog and take a look at again right here regularly.I am slightly certain I’ll be informed lots of new stuffright here! Good luck for the next! Minecraft

  48. Enjoyed reading through this, very good stuff, thanks . “Nothing happens to any thing which that thing is not made by nature to bear.” by Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.

  60. I do accept as true with all of the ideas you’ve introduced in your post. They’re very convincing and can certainly work. Still, the posts are too brief for newbies. May just you please lengthen them a bit from subsequent time? Thanks for the post.

  64. In such situations, the computer might not start properly, when attempt it next moments. The applications are usually designed as read-only and so can safely carry out recovery. Both devices were the smaller models for this X10.

  75. Greetings! Very helpful advice in this particular post! It’s the little changes that make the most important changes. Thanks a lot for sharing!

  79. I blog often and I seriously appreciate your content. This great article has truly peakedmy interest. I’m going to bookmark your blog and keep checking for newdetails about once per week. I subscribed to your Feed too.

  83. Thanks for some other fantastic article. Where else may just anyone get that kind of information in such an ideal way of writing?I’ve a presentation subsequent week, and I’m at the search for such information.

  96. I like what you guys tend to be up too. This type of clever work and coverage!Keep up the awesome works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to my personal blogroll.

  126. Hey There. I found your blog the usage of msn. That is an extremely smartly written article. I’ll be sure to bookmark it and come back to read extra of your helpful information. Thank you for the post. I’ll certainly comeback.

  140. Hello There. I found your blog the use of msn. This is a really smartly written article.I’ll make sure to bookmark it and come back to learn extra of your useful info.Thanks for the post. I’ll definitely comeback.

  158. Aw, this was an extremely good post. Spending some time and actual effort to generate a really good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate a whole lot and never seem to get nearly anything done.

  160. Togel Singapore Anda juga dapat menggunakan hasil yang kami berikan untuk menjalankan tolok ukur permainan sehingga Anda dapat membuat prediksi SGP yang benar untuk permainan togel Singapura Anda.Loading…

  169. I have fun with, cause I discovered just what I used to be havinga look for. You have ended my four day lengthy hunt!God Bless you man. Have a nice day. Bye

  176. We are looking for some people that might be interested in from working their home on a part-time basis. If you want to earn $100 a day, and you don’t mind developing some short opinions up, this might be perfect opportunity for you!

  177. This is a really good tip particularly to those fresh to the blogosphere. Short but very accurate info Appreciate your sharing this one. A must read article!

  183. Hmm is anyⲟne elѕe encounteｒing problems with the pictures on this blog loading?I’m trying to figᥙre out if its a problem on my end ᧐r if it’s thе bⅼog.Any suggestions ѡould be grеatly appreciated.

  185. I have not checked in here for a while as I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are good quality so I guess I¡¦ll add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂

  189. Hi! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the great work!

  193. Hi there mates, how is the whole thing, and what you desire to say regarding this post, in my view its in fact remarkable in favor of me.

  194. Howdy! This poxt couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my previous room mate!He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this post to him.Pretty sure hee wull have a good read. Many thanks for sharing!

  213. Профессиональный сервисный центр по ремонту техники в Екатеринбурге.
    Мы предлагаем: Ремонт телевизоров Toshiba рядом
    Наши мастера оперативно устранят неисправности вашего устройства в сервисе или с выездом на дом!

  223. Предлагаем услуги профессиональных инженеров офицальной мастерской.
    Еслли вы искали ремонт холодильников gorenje в москве, можете посмотреть на сайте: ремонт холодильников gorenje
    Наши мастера оперативно устранят неисправности вашего устройства в сервисе или с выездом на дом!

  256. Профессиональный сервисный центр по ремонту Apple iPhone в Москве.
    Мы предлагаем: ремонт iphone в москве
    Наши мастера оперативно устранят неисправности вашего устройства в сервисе или с выездом на дом!

  257. Предлагаем услуги профессиональных инженеров офицальной мастерской.
    Еслли вы искали ремонт кофемашин philips адреса, можете посмотреть на сайте: ремонт кофемашин philips адреса
    Наши мастера оперативно устранят неисправности вашего устройства в сервисе или с выездом на дом!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *