Flight Agencies Complain of Tax Increase by Southwest State

The Southwest State Administration has responded on the recent complains by Flight Agencies in Baidoa after tax increase on air passengers to the town.

Local Finance Minister of Southwest State Hassan Isak who spoke to Goobjoog News said initially they used to charge 4% tax which is equivalent to $4 per air ticket but now increased to 10% or $10.

According to him, the flight agencies used to collect $10 from the passengers as tax but only give $4 to the tax department. This led the administration to collect the same amount of $10 tax charged by the agencies on its air passengers.

“Agencies used to inform the passengers $10 and gave us only $4. If the tax amount is displayed on the ticket, then we decided to take $10 because it has been already paid by the public” said Minister Hassan.

The Minister suggested that they will have a second look on the matter since the agencies have grumbled and a reduction of the tax amount might be expected.

The public has no feeling of resentment since they used to be charged $10 and the agencies used to remain with $6 of the tax amount though they implicitly want some of the money back and not all the $10 given to the local administration.