Project Summary

Project General Description

The proposed project is a Technical Advisory Assistance and Capacity Building Support to the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA). LRA was established by an Act of Legislature in September 2013 for the purposes of assessing and collecting national revenues as specified in the Revenue Code of Liberia and other related laws; administering, accounting, auditing, enforcing revenue collection laws and regulations, and educating taxpayers to facilitate tax and customs compliance. The Authority became operational on 1st July 2014. Since its inception, tax revenue collection has continued to grow while professionalism in revenue administration has been enhanced. However, a number of processes remain manual and the LRA is yet to operate as a fully integrated organization. Thus, the LRA’s Five-Year Corporate Strategic Plan (CSP) approved and published in 2016 details LRA’s intended reform agenda, which is expected to facilitate Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM) in Liberia. The aim of the project is to support the implementation of the country’s Revenue Mobilization Strategy as well as the LRA’s Five Year Corporate Strategic Plan through widening the tax base, modernizing tax administration, aligning with national priorities for Liberia’s socioeconomic development, and improving service delivery to Liberia’s taxpayers. Supporting the strategy is crucial for harnessing the needed revenue for Government in implementing the National Development Strategy (PAPD) for delivering the needed services. This TA is in line with the Bank’s Strategy of “Addressing Fragility and Building Resilience in Africa” (2014 –2019) which focuses on addressing the challenges of fragility in all its RMCs. It will particularly strengthen state capacity and effective institutions based on Liberia’s current context. The project comprises these following intertwined components: (i) support to the LRA/ Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism (MICAT) in developing an operational and Legal Framework for the Tourism Sector of Liberia; (ii) support the LRA transition from the current concession regime and elaborating the enabling instruments to facilitate a switchover from Concession Agreement to licensing regime; (iii) support to the conduct of research leading to the identification of gaps in the Liberia Tax system.

Project Objectives

The overarching development objective of the Technical Legal Assistance and Capacity Building (TCB) Support to the Liberia Presidency is to provide technical advisory services to the implementation of the Revenue Mobilization Strategy. The specific objective of the project is to support the Revenue Administration Arm of Government (The Liberia Revenue Authority) and the Ministry of Information, Culture & Tourism to develop the legal and operational framework for the Tourism Sector; preparing a comprehensive report containing analyses of various tax gaps by kinds, customers and behavior and a white paper, for cabinet approval, for transitioning from Concession Agreement to licensing regime.

Beneficiaries

Despite the small size and scope of this intervention, its potential benefits have far reaching implications with a wider reach. Firstly, Liberia has never had a more robust and comprehensive Domestic Revenue Mobilization Strategy. As such, implementing key aspects of the strategy to harness potential revenue is very important in supporting our National Development Plan. Thus, any outcome from this implementation will directly benefit the government and people of Liberia. The capacity of LRA will be improved in the areas of policy, institutional and legal in implementing the Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM) Strategy.

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