Deputy Attorney General, Mr George Masaju.

The government has designed a system to monitor and take action against investors and nationals who evade tax, denying the government revenues to finance provision of different social services.

This was said by George Masaju the Deputy Attorney General, when closing a five-day training workshop sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) attended by Union and Zanzibar government officials to discuss loopholes that people use to evade taxes.

Masaju said such loopholes have led to the government losing large amounts of revenue, particularly in big projects and businesses such as petrol and gas, where some unfaithful investors and officials scheme to evade due taxes.

He said one of the techniques used was to evade tax during the transition, when they changed business names and even transferred ownership.

He said the government is training and equipping its experts with the most up to date knowledge in order to help control such practices.

He said investors were divided into two main groups; those who comply with the national laws and those who want to only benefit themselves and therefore would use any method to try and violate the laws and regulations.

He said it was very important that taxes are paid in time in order to boost the country's economy and help to fight poverty.