By Rosalia Kapiri

Salima, August 9, Mana: Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) says the media has a powerful role to play in making sure that correct information is passed on to the public, thereby facilitating in voluntary tax compliance in the country.

MRA Head of Corporate Affairs, Steven Kapoloma disclosed this on Thursday, in a statement during a media editors training on new tax measures and MRA initiatives workshop in Salima.

Kapoloma said MRA engaged various media organizations to take them through the various tax administration reforms and measures that have been implemented by MRA and the new technologies employed to fight smuggling.

"Editors are key gatekeepers of information and engaging them will make sure that the information going out to the masses is the correct one.

"MRA is committed to ensure that all tax knowledge and skills are shared with members of the press to advance capacity and guarantee effective utilization across the news gathering chain," he said.

In his presentation, MRA Training Manager under Domestic Taxes Division, Samuel Mwale highlighted the introduction of tax stamps, a tool to help identify goods that have come through the border and are of good quality and genuine.

He said this will help differentiate smuggled goods from legitimate ones on the market of which teams deployed to search will be confiscating goods without MRA stamp found on the market.

"Tax stamps is not a new type of tax, but a compliance monitoring tool," he said.

He added that MRA will run campaigns to encourage the general public to report non-compliance for rewards.

The Authority has appealed to the public to adhere to the paying of taxes, saying they enable Government to implement various social services such as buying of medicines for hospitals, learning and teaching materials in public schools, developmental projects such as construction of roads and paying of salaries to civil servants, among others.