THE Finance ministry yesterday proposed 20.3trn/- estimates for fiscal 2025/26, with 14.2trn/- set aside for servicing government debt.

Dr Mwigulu Nchemba, the minister, said in delivering estimates to the legislature that eight ministerial units will spend 19.43trn/- for recurrent needs, where 1.10trn/- is for salaries, 18.33trn/- for operational costs and 757.79trn/- for development projects.

That makes a total of 20.19trn/- for recurrent and development expenditure, where the National Audit Office is set to receive 122.52bn/-. By late April, the government had already settled 10.19trn/- in matured debt claims during the current financial year, equivalent to 84.8percent of the annual target, he said.

Of this amount, domestic debt repayments stood at 6.01trn/-, comprising 2.48trn/- in interest and 3.53trn/- in principal. External debt repayments amounted to 4.18trn/- , including 2.56trn/- principal payments and 1.62trn/- interest dues.

The government expects to collect 50.17trn/- in revenue in the coming financial year, spend 14.22trn/- in servicing maturing government debt, while pursuing administrative innovations like an integrated invoicing system.

This will enhance efficiency in government payment processes and improve electronic systems used in public financial and asset management, he said. He pointed at planned activities of the Tax Revenue Appeals Board (TRAB) and the Tax Revenue Appeals Tribunal (TRAT), where TRAB is expected to register 675 tax-related cases, where 585 are appeal cases and 90 applications querying 5 decisions of the commissioner general of the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).

The tax complaints and information mediation unit will enhance its efforts to address taxpayer grievances, develop a mobile complaints system and conduct public awareness campaigns.

As of late April TRAT had registered 254 tax disputes where a total of 817.02bn/- is being contested, and delivered rulings on 234 cases where disposal of 442.26bn/- was finalized, he stated.

TRAB registered 1,033 cases related to 2.12trn/- demands and resolved 671 disputes adding up to 3.51trn/- disputed claims, he said. The Gaming Board of Tanzania expects to collect 29.89bn/- in the new financial year, make outreach efforts on the negative impacts of gambling while overseeing operation of the national lottery, he said.

GMT expects to issue a total of 14,124 licenses where 845 are new and 13,279 licenses are being renewed, while conducting 12 risk-based audits and carrying out four operations to curb illegal slot machines.

By late April, the board had issued 8,466 licenses or 67.9percent of its annual target, where 2,008 are new licences and 6,458 are renewals, he said. As of late April a total of 315.08bn/-I had been disbursed in retirement benefits, following the receipt of supporting documentation from the Controller and Auditor General (CAG), he stated.

Twaha Mpembenwe, the Budget Committee vice chairman, praised government consistency in debt repayment, noting that it demonstrates the country’s capacity to meet domestic and international financial obligations.

He also suggested drafting a comprehensive national tax policy to guide all fiscal matters, for legal clarity regarding the accountability and independence of internal auditors in public institutions.

“We propose that internal auditors be administratively accountable to accounting officers and operationally answerable to the chief internal auditor,” he said.

There is also a need to amend Section 8 of the National Payment Systems Act (Cap. 437) and the Tax Administration Act (Cap. 438), to mandate electronic payments for all public procurement transactions involving goods and services, he added.