There were reforms in the tax sector before his appointment as DG of Taxation. But he has modernized the reforms to produce optimum results

There is no denying the fact that the tax sector in Cameroon is not the same today as it was before 14 June 2013 when Mopa Modeste Fatoing was appointed Director General of Taxation.

The 40-year-old, workaholic and goals-driven genius has put and continues to put in place a string of reforms which started bearing fruit barely six months after rose to the helm of the Directorate-General of Taxation DGT. A close look at the current records of this prescient financial administrator reveals that he is making astounding strides as far as raising tax revenue in the country is concerned.

At the end of the first semester of 2013 which was when Mopa took office, the tax yield was considerably less than the amount projected by the government. Whereas the treasury targeted 680 billion FCFA, the tax sector was able to generate just 602 billion FCFA, representing an 89.5% success.

However, as soon as Mopa Modeste Fatoing came, he set out to reverse the trend. And he did reverse it indeed! By the end of that year, the sector raised as much as 741.7 billion FCFA as against an expected 650.6 billion FCFA. Of course, this enabled the new Director General to crown his year with a 101% success rate.

Since then, the ingenious taxation boss and his team have not ceased to make a forward march in the battle of development. In the first semester of 2014 the tax revenue came up to a whopping 736 billion FCFA even though the assigned objective was 652 billion FCFA. This means that there was a surplus of 84 billion FCFA, representing a relative value of 13%.

Those are not all the statistics that unveil the giant strides that Mopa Modeste Fatoing is making. Come to think of it; in the month of June 2014 alone, the treasury was expecting his sector to generate 72 billion FCFA. But to the astonishment of authorities of the finance ministry, the sum of 95 billion FCFA was raised. And at the end September over FCFA 1300 billion of the yearly objective of FCFA 1640 billion had been raised.

Mopa Modeste’s magic wand

The question to be asked is: what magic wand is the Director General of Taxation employing to make the tax sector grow so amazingly from strength to strength? The answer lies in the edifying reforms he has been instituting since he was given the top job.

It is common knowledge that as far back as 2004, fiscal services in Cameroon were given a new orientation. What Mopa Modeste has done is to modernize the new orientation in such a way as to ease the payment of taxes as well as boost the efficiency of the tax administration.

This modernization has seen the creation of three operational structures; viz, divisional tax centres which deal with businesses with a turnover less than 100 million FCFA; Medium-Size Tax Centres which handle taxes for businesses with turnover ranging from 100 million FCFA to 1 billion FCFA; and the Large Tax Unit which handles tax payers with an annual turnover of from 1 billion FCFA upwards.

The latest implementation of reforms in the tax sector by Mopa Modeste Fatoing is the inauguration of Medium-Sized Tax Centres in all Regions of the country, the institution of on-line declaration (tele-declaration) and the payment of taxes by bank transfer (virement bancaire) and not in cash. Thanks to these measures taxpayers can now effect payments and declare their taxes without being physically present (tele-declaration).

These measures have eliminated in no small measure the administrative bottlenecks and red tape that used to be inherent in the tax sector. Over and above these, Mopa Fatoing has exhorted personnel at tax cash counters to treat tax payers hospitably and humanely this, to render the tax administration more and more customer-friendly.

From the way Mopa Modeste Fatoing and his team are forging ahead, observers are of the opinion that they will not only attain but will surpass the 2015 budgetary objective of FCFA 1604 billion set by government. The Median has no doubts that Mopa Fatoing has what it takes to fly even higher in his efforts to uplift the tax sector.

Born on 15 March 1975 in Guidiguis, Extreme North Region, he is holder of a Bachelor’s Degree (Licence) in Private law from the University of Douala, a Professional Post-Graduate Diploma in tax administration from Enam Yaounde where he graduated as the best trainee of his batch, a Maitrise in Business Law from Y’de University II Soa and a Professional Masters in Public Administration from Ena Paris, France.

Having served all his brilliant career in the tax sector and at the IMF, there is no doubt that Mopa Modeste is today a cut-steeped-and-dried tax administrator; he is truly the man for the situation at the DGT. That is why we of The Median can only wish him more blessings and courage.