Member of National Parliament MP Osorio Florindo urges the government to collect tax of foreigners working in Timor-Leste to boots State revenue to be used for national development.
The MP added that state revenue annually is low because the government does not have an adequate tax collection system for foreigners working in the country not only their visa fees.
“This is an easy thing that the government is not able to do. There are many foreigners working in the country,” said also MP Florindo at the National Parliament, Dili.
He added this measure is needed so that there is less reliance on revenue from the petroleum sector and urged the government to make a decision regarding collecting taxes from foreigner working in Timor-Leste.
He said also the government should be taxing those Timorese it sends to work overseas to repay the investment made on them.
Deputy Prime Minister Fernando Lasama de Araujo acknowledged the facts presented by MP Florindo and for him to keep reminding government of this issue.
He added laws must be reviewed in particular taxation law he warned about not putting the burden all on one side, especially the people.
“There is a cause-effect factor here. When we start collecting higher taxes then we need to pay them more. So we need to look at this issue carefully,” said D-PM Lassama.
