Tunisian Government Estimates Tax Evasion at USD8.3 Billion

Prime Minister’s adviser in charge of tax reform Faisal Derbal has revealed that tax evasion is estimated to reach TND25 billion (around USD8.3 billion) in Tunisia.

He denied, during a press conference in the government’s headquarters, rumors circulating about the tax evasion value rising to double of the mentioned number in which it reaches TND50 billion (USD16.6 billion).

Derbal continued that the tax evasion value can’t be equal to incomes of the organized sector that includes petroleum companies, banks, phosphate production companies, and transportation firms.

In the same context, he expected tax incomes to be a minimum of TND27 billion (USD9 billion) this year – these incomes would contribute to sustaining the state’s efforts in providing resources to fund the current year’s budget (around TND41 billion).

Tunisian authorities seek to limit tax evasion phenomenon that has mounted after 2011 due to the growth of equivalent commercial activities, representing around 53 percent of local commerce.

In this context, Tunisian Economic and Financial Expert Saad Boumakhla stated that unsupervised equivalent commerce and economic activities have mounted during the past years. This caused the local economy to suffer enormously on the level of providing self-resources for the state.

Tunisia’s Former Minister of Public Functions Abid Briki affirmed that he handed out a list to Tunisia’s Prime Minister Youssef Chahed – the list included a hundred names of merchants and suppliers who evaded customs fees.

Briki noted that a Tunisian merchant who exports used clothes and corals owes the state up to TND211 million (more than USD70 million) as debts.