On the 15th of Saturday I read an article entitled Landlords protest district taxes. I want to join my voice together with the landlords in Gisenyi town because I am a landlord myself.

I think that the district authorities of Gisenyi town are being a little unfair here.

They have issued demand notes to tax defaulters whose money has accumulated over several years to a total of Frw300 million.

The authorities even went ahead to put a deadline of seven days! As if that was not enough, they had the audacity of taking measures on those with outstanding debts who will not beat the deadline of seven days.

Is this realistic?

The law states that the taxes are supposed to be collected over a period of over 10years. 

How are these landlords expected to pay up taxes worth the actual value of their plots? Besides, those are not the only taxes that have to pay.

The district authorities should revise their policies which are as a result of their weakness to collect revenue in time.

The responsible authorities should stop pointing fingers at the landlords for evading taxes this long and instead find a lasting solution to this crisis.

Nyamirambo