A leading analyst has urged South Sudanese to pay taxes in a bid to ensure the government achieves its development goals.  Dr. Jok Madut Jok the Executive Director of the SUDD Institute and Undersecretary in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports said that by paying taxes, citizens can hold the government accountable.

“People who pay taxes do two things; one, they spend cautiously because they know it is coming from them and that money needs to go to services that benefits all of us such as roads, education and healthcare and so forth,” he said.

The Commissioner General of Central Equatoria state revenue authority Michael Amule Joseph has also encouraged the government to take a more vigorous approach to raise the collection of taxes above the current minimal.

“Payment of taxes is a national obligation, and this is the corner stone to development, in order for the government to realize the developmental plans that it has put forward,” he said.

“Collecting taxes include; property tax, income tax and poll tax. Even cattle should be taxed” said Jok Madut, who also said taxes should be levied on many different services to ensure enough revenue gained by the government.

Taxes aid the government to develop infrastructure like roads, hospitals, legal protection, welfare security, environmental conservation and education among other services.