SUMMARY REPORT OF THE PLENARY SESSION OF FEBRUARY 27, 2025

In the year two thousand and twenty-five, on the twenty-seventh day of February, senators gathered in the Senate Chamber in Gitega for the 229^th plenary session of the sixth legislature under the chaimanship of the Right Honourable Emmanuel SINZOHAGERA, Senate Speaker, to consider the analysis and adoption of the bill revising the law N^o1/02 of March 3, 2016, on the reform of communal taxation in Burundi.

This session, which was attended by 31 senators and a Government Representative, Honourable Martin NITERETSE, Minister of home Affairs and Community Development, began as usual with a prayer at 9:10.

Opening the session, the Senate Speaker first welcomed the Honourable senators and, after welcoming the guest, gave him the floor to present the explanatory statement of the bill under consideration.

In his presentation, the Government Representative indicated that this bill addresses the shortcomings of Law N^o 1/02 of March 3, 2016, reforming communal taxation in Burundi. These include the lack of distinction between the taxable revenue of the State and that allocated to the commune, and the harmonization of the tax rate, which, until now, was defined differently by the communal council in each commune, thus resulting in a differentiated application of taxation from one commune to another.

After the explanatory statement and the presentation of the committee’s report, the Honourable senators were given the floor to speak during the general debate and ask questions for clarification.

Asked whether communal officials were involved in the inventory of taxable items, the Minister responded affirmatively.

To the elected officials’ concern that taxpayers could be taxed by both the commune and the OBR on the same item, the Government Representative explained that this bill comes to resolve this confusion, as all listed items will be taxed by the communal administration alone.

Regarding the senators’ suggestion that it would not be better to establish a tax education service at the communal level, Honourable Martin Niteretse shared this idea with the elected officials. He further specified that booklets would even be distributed to popularize the law’s content.

For the idea of ​​exempting income-generating activities for people over 70 from taxes, as is the case for the disabled, the Minister stated that the degree of vulnerability is not comparable, especially since some of them are in good financial health.

Regarding how the communes’ debt to the social security institution (INSS) and the OBR will be recovered, the government envoy indicated that all communal debts to the INSS have been recovered by the supervising ministry since 2021. If there is still any unrecovered debt, the administrator himself will be responsible for paying it, just as for the commune’s debt to the OBR, he emphasized.

When it comes to knowing the management of taxable items which will be identified during the implementation of this bill, the day’s guest stated that the newly identified taxable items will be included each year in the following fiscal year’s finance law.

To know whether state infrastructure has land certificates, the Government Representative indicated that the work of registering properties and infrastructure is underway in all communes across the country to prevent them from being plundered.

After the Minister’s responses, the bill was put to a vote and was unanimously adopted by the 39 voting senators, including 31 present and 8 proxies.

The session, which took place in a climate of perfect harmony, was closed at 13:06 with a prayer.