Paying taxes, fees online – way to go

THE EDITOR: I was heartened to see articles in the newspapers this week signalling the Minister of Finance’s support for financial inclusion and more digital transactions.

The Government is the single largest collector of payments in the country, collecting taxes and payments for services from the citizenry. It therefore stands to reason that any strategy that seeks to increase digital transactions would benefit significantly from the Government facilitating electronic collection of its payments.

While one article mentioned use of and access to ATMs as a gateway to financial inclusion, this still involves cash, the use of which we should be seeking to avoid. The way forward is cards or digital payments at point of sale or, better still, use of online payments. Cashless, as mentioned in one other article, is the direction in which we should be heading.

One such "universal" payment with the potential for an online treatment is the much talked about property tax. For all the inconveniences of the covid19 pandemic, one of the "benefits" was that it accelerated the use of digital means of doing business and accepting payments.

It is therefore unfortunate that in the how many long years during which the property tax was debated (including during the pandemic) there was no (apparent) work done on implementing an online way to pay this tax. Instead, we are being told to visit a district revenue or BIR office to make these payments.

Think of how much more convenient it would be to go online to a dedicated government site or to your bank’s online platform and make a payment using your debit or credit card, or even simply doing a transfer from your bank account. Think of the savings in time, the reduced footfall in government offices (and no cashiers to go on lunch), and the reduced traffic on the roads. I am sure readers can picture other similar opportunities.

Procedurally, paying the property tax (or any other government tax or fee) is no different to paying your telephone or electricity bill, which as we all know is very easily done at our bank’s website or on their mobile app. In some cases payments can even be made at supermarkets or at Lotto booths.

While the latter options may not be appropriate for tax collection, the bank’s digital options can be extended to pretty much any payment that is necessary for government services. All that is required is an appropriate identification number related to the specific tax/payment.

For example, one’s Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) number or in the case of property tax the property PIN recently issued can be used to link your payment to your relevant account. This is not rocket science and given the recent pronouncements about digital transformation of the public service, this is relatively low hanging fruit – ready for the picking.

The recent changes in the ordering of and payment for the new polymer birth certificates is an example of a well implemented digital government service. I am sure there are many other relatively simple payments that can be so transformed. Let’s get many more such services on board, please.

DERWIN M HOWELL

derwin.howell@outlook.com