An article that discusses on the rationale behind taxation rulings and decision in modern tax administration, citing the Gambia Revenue Authority as an example.

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“DEMYSTIFYING THE ONTOLOGY OF TAXATION RULINGS IN THE
GAMBIA: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
BY
JALLOW, Assan (Ph.D)
Assubj78@yahoo.co.uk

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Abstract
This study set out to examine the issues and challenges on the non-publication and circulation of
taxation rulings in The Gambia. In addition, this paper presents the rationale of making and
publishing a Commissioner General’s rulings on the application and interpretation of certain
provisions on the tax laws where there is ambiguity in order to avoid distortions and differing
inconsistent applicable views of persons. In this paper, the author provides a holistic
demystification on the ontology of taxation rulings within the context of The Gambia’s laws of
taxation, citing the Gambia Revenue Authority as an example. The study however, indicates that
no previous study of this nature has ever been commissioned in The Gambia, thus catapulting the
need to conduct such study to add to the body of knowledge by limiting the dearth of literature in
the discourse of public finance and in order to examine the mechanism of taxation rulings in
terms of making provisions to prepare tax rulings, reproduce them in adequate numbers,
distribute them to officials and made them available to the general taxpayers’. On a simpler
note, this study discusses on the need for objective clarifications and better codification on the
provisions of the existing tax laws, policies and regulations within the operational and
administrative parameters of taxation. In summary, the paper indicates that a public ruling is
still yet to be conventionally made available to the tax officials and the taxpayers. Finally, the
results of this study should be of interest to taxing authority as it concludes with some
prescriptive recommendations and solutions identified as the essential mechanics and alternative
paradigms towards having in place a robust, mutually-inclusive, well-established and functional
tax ruling mechanism.
Keywords: Taxation, Rulings, Law, Commissioner General, Compliance, Simplification.
Introduction
Taxation is undeniably one of the most veritable sources of revenue for emerging and developing
economies, and essentially continues to lubricate the financial muscles of many national
governments in Asia, Africa and Latin Americas through the channelisation of resources for
sustained economic growth and development. Yet, it is one of the most difficult and yet complex
subject to understand. In the words of Jean –Baptiste Colbert, “the art of taxation consists in so
plucking of the goose so as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest

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possible amount of hissing”. What this implies is that in as much we want to extract the honey
from nectar of the bee wax, we need to be cautious and premise the process in an economically
cost-effective and less burdensome ways of collecting the required taxes without making serious
impairments on the earnings and profits of taxpayers, so as to keep them in business. By the
foregoing, the art of taxation therefore compelled taxpayers, tax practitioners, scholars and
researchers to insatiably make inquiry into the present state of affairs through the “chemistry of
thoughts and reasoning’ which is an innate gift given to man by God to search for tangible
solutions to many of our much unanswered questions in the business of taxation. In essence, the
issue of taxation ruling throughout The Gambia’s taxation history, despite been an important
component in tax management has not received apt concern and critical discussions or debate
from the realm of policy makers, scholars, researchers and tax practitioners. This scenario
actually has been hampered due to the absence of tax rulings which remain unpublished, hence
raising doubts with agitated degree of questionability as to the credibility on the decisions of the
Commissioner General in certain contested views and opinions to make clarity and refined
interpretations to certain obscure and tax provisions that are pack jammed with ambiguity, and
obsolete laws.
Taxation in its entirety is a multidimensional process that spans from education, compliance and
enforcement. For the purpose of administrative convenience, culture of belonging, responsive
participation and involvement of all major stakeholders (i.e. taxpayers, tax practitioners,
researchers and scholars) is generated through the mentioned process. Musgrave (1984: p.90)
sees this process as “a representative tax structure shaped by economic factors influencing
opinions on tax equity”. However, modern tax administrations in which The Gambia is no
exception is inundated with waves of compounded challenges that has to deal with lack of
regulations, moral suasion, compliance in terms of acceptance or denial (attitudes of taxpayers)
cost of collection, integrity and ethics, monitoring and enforcement on the provisions of enacted
tax laws. This is because it has to deal with the obvious parting away with certain amount of
money without any options of choice-making in the form of “alternative forgone” (opportunity
cost) as practiced in the realm of economics on the basis of “scale of preference” but rather as a
necessity by design and dictated by the tax laws once you fall within the parameters and the
circles of the tax base thresholds, premised under the non-objectionable rhythm of taxation. In

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the words of Musgrave (1984, p4), “taxes are contributions for which no explicit, reciprocal
benefit is provided to the taxpayer”. Obviously, this asserted view by Musgrave should not be
used as a basis for the absence of unpublished tax rulings but instead should be the most obvious
need to ensure and guarantee an unhindered tax ruling publications process in The Gambia.
Therefore, the main thrust of taxation laws should be anchored on the wheels of simplification.
By and large, simplification is the key driver towards defining the burden of proof in terms of
collections cost, compliance management, effective monitoring and enforcement of the
provisions of the enacted tax laws, with better, more refined, coherent and clearer interpretations
for all parties (i.e. taxpayers and tax officials).
It is important to state here that, every tax system produces various types of consequences from
the design to the implementation/execution and enforcement phases. From the foregoing, the
difficulties and complexities associated with revenue (tax) laws, policies, rules and regulation is
as a result of adopting ‘half-baked’ fiscal policies of western-oriented economies that do not
have any bearable touches to the economic realities of a given developing economy. To be
precise, this is a responsible factor that brings forth the vices of inconsistency, unnecessary
complexity and uncertain clarity in the design, application and enforcement of the laws of
taxation. Therefore, a developing country must have a different tax policy from a developed
country and its laws of taxation must be simple and clearer for proper execution because (a) its
primary objectives is to achieve high level of economic development, not merely economic
stability; (b) greater attention has to be paid to the maximisation of revenue and not to ability to
pay or equity; (c) it has to follow a policy of active intervention in economic affairs and not
laissez-faire; and (d) it aims at accelerating economic growth and not to reduce economic
inequalities (Saleemi: 2008: p33). Adducing to this fact, there must be reason as to what the
object of the developed tax laws is and how can the designed tax laws have a real meaning of
achieving their desired policy objectives. This is very essential in the light of emerging economic
realities as the developed tax policy will holistically be distinguishable with a more refined and
proactively designed counter-revolutionary pact to unravel the kind of development patterns and
intentions of a country’s tax policies in relations towards contributing positively in the drive
towards sustainable economic growth and development in all spheres of the national economy
for emerging, frontier and transitional economies of which The Gambia is no exception.

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It is noteworthy to ask ourselves the following salient thought provoking questions before we
delve into the topic proper: Are taxation rulings a choice or necessity? What do we understand
by the concept taxation rulings? Why the need/essence for rulings on taxation matters in terms of
interpretation and application? Are the tax laws simplified and easy to understand? Are the
definitions in the preliminary chapters of interpretations conclusively exhaustive, obscure-proof
and vividly captured in ‘totality’? Are the laws codified and the regulations produced for general
public consumption or are they exclusively for the tax practitioners? Is there any inconsistency or
ambiguity in the provisions of the tax laws? If there is, where exactly do the tax practitioners
differ in terms of deficiency in interpretational implementation of certain provisions of the
Income and Value Added Tax Act? Additionally, is there the need for the culture of excludability
or do we need to publish the Commissioner General’s taxation rulings for public consumption?
In sum, this paper therefore seeks to examine the role of taxation rulings in the Gambia’s tax
system with the view to proffer policy recommendations that are required to effectively
institutionalise this missing and very essential part in enhancing the culture of belonging,
intensifying confidence and inclusively responsive participation
2.0 Taxation Rulings in Perspective
The health of a nation’s wealth in relation to the dynamics of its tax system portrays a lot about
the country in terms of its designed fiscal policies anchoring within the tentacles of her defined
macroeconomic limits. This defined limitation provides a holistic framework as to the
institutional, structural and policy designs in place to maintain a well-balanced, coherent and
sustainable economic growth and development. Putting this into practical terms, explains the
importance of rulings and most importantly public rulings in the sphere of tax management for
developing economies like The Gambia. Ideally, taxation rulings is a recipe that serves as a
catalyst towards avoiding any form of inconsistency in interpretation and applications of certain
or if not all the provisions within the confines of a country’s tax laws (codes) in order to bridge a
highly interpretative and codified applications on the certain provision of the tax laws (Act).
What this implies is that taxation rulings generally provide the basis of clarity and consistency in
the administration of certain provisions within the parameters of a country’s tax laws. Basically,
a ruling therefore, takes three multidimensional approaches which include inter-alia: (a) public

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ruling, (b) private ruling and (c) oral rulings, respectively. It is important to state here that our
discussion will be limited to public and private rulings, citing The Gambia as a case study.
In The Gambia’s context, a public ruling is an expression of the Commissioner General’s
opinion of the way in which a relevant provision applies, or would apply, to entities generally or
to a class of entities, individual (taxpayers) and revenue officers, devised purposely in a form of
guidance, thus setting out the Commissioner-General’s interpretation of the application of the
Act (IVATA: 2012: Part XI, s250 (1) Laws of Taxation). In a nutshell, public rulings are the
opinion of the Commissioner General and are not a source of law. In this case, a public ruling is
binding on the Commissioner General until revoked and are not binding on taxpayers (IVATA,
2012). What this implies is that a public ruling is not an expressed provision of the law itself but
rather a marriage of convenience to create such platform of clarity and consistency in terms of
avoiding deafening interpretation and application of certain definitive provisions within the laws
of taxation in The Gambia. In consequent, the Commissioner General is legally bound to the
view expressed in the ruling so long as the law to which it relates remains in force. However, the
Commissioner General is required to publish the devised public ruling for usage and at the same
vein can equally withdraw any publication of pubic rulings if he thinks it otherwise. This is
referred to as the “rhythm of discretion” in taxation, where the head of a tax administration (the
Commissioner General) is conferred with discretionary powers to make public rulings and at the
same time withdraws the publication of his decision in any public rulings case.
A private ruling on the other hand, is an expression of the Commissioner General’s opinion on
how the tax law applies to a named taxpayer in relation to a specified scheme and cannot be
taken as a precedent for someone else. although, taxpayers dissatisfied with the ruling can object
to the Commissioner General’s decision and have them reviewed by the Tax Tribunal and if still
unsatisfied with the reviewable decisions of the former can still challenge it to other court of
competent jurisdiction such as the Appeal and the Supreme Courts, respectively for due hearings.
This is contingent upon meeting certain requirements as laid down by the provisions of the
Income and Value Added Tax Act, 2012
Generally, people have differing views on the connotative meanings tax rulings as a result of
their level of education, different orientations, beliefs, value systems and ways of understanding

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issues or policies in order to come to terms at the same wavelengths with definitive correctness
for related interpretational base analysis. As indicated earlier, there is the most ardent need to
publish the rulings of the Commissioner General on certain provisions that require clarity in
interpretation and application to serve as temporary binding advice until revoked or prove
otherwise from the Attorney General’s office. In essence, it is believed that the simplification of
certain unclear provisions in the forms of rulings enhances the promotion and development of the
culture of voluntary self-regulated compliance and awareness in meeting tax obligations
regarding payments and at the same time will even accommodate the unlettered taxpayers’ to be
cleared of their doubting intentions in cases of ambiguities in the tax laws. It is obvious that
every intended consequence has an equal and opposite unintended consequence which has to
deal with unnecessary complexity and uncertainty on the application laws, inconsistency with the
policy the legislation was intended to implement and difficulties in compliance (Flint:2004)
3.0 Conditions for the Usage of Public and Private Rulings for Proper Taxation Decisions
The need to spearhead sustainable feasibility and coordinate the efficiency and effectiveness of
any form of initiated programmes such as tax rulings that has direct bearings on the taxpayers’
lies in having a well-coordinated, proactive and functional process system. A process system is a
form of designed regulatory framework that outlines the regulation process or required steps to
be followed in the course of action on when to apply and receive either a public or private rulings
on certain taxation decisions that requires interpretational clarity on the provisions of some
aspects of the tax laws. In a nutshell, it is a process popularised as the watchwords that
holistically explain the dos and the don’ts. However, we can deduce from the mentioned view
that it is a form of a legal procedure that present the definitiveness of recurring taxation issues
from application to final decision regarding better clarification of one’s taxable arrangements in
the course of business tax transactions.
In fact, it is worthy to note that all modern tax administration throughout the world in the likes of
Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the Inland Revenue Service (IRS), Kenya Revenue Authority
(KRA), South African Revenue Services (SARS) and the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA)
have in place tax rulings policy framework mechanism in the form of developed regulations that
helps in the workability of their enacted tax (revenue) legislations and laws. Regrettably, the

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Gambia lacks such designated and required systemic process in the realm of her taxation rulings
decision. The absence of such laid down tax rulings process in the context of The Gambia is an
asymptomatic challenge derailing the institutional and structural governance on her tax system
and a potential breeding ground for fiscal frauds and aggressive tax planning schemes in the
forms of tax avoidance and tax evasion if left unaddressed.
On equity basis, the statutory conditions on public or private taxation rulings as sanctioned by
the law should not be a respecter of any form of conditional precedents that connotes any culture
shock of discrimination against any group of taxpayers. But, rather should be premised equally
on law and not ‘lore’ to deal with real taxation issues that comprehensively need better
clarification relating to the provisions on liability (such as allowable and non-allowable
deductions, residency status, interpretational deficiencies, etc.).
4.0 Challenges on Taxation Rulings
Despite, being a fundamental catalyst in the realm for efficient and effective revenue generation
and tax administration, it is still in its infancy stage of being fully understood by tax officials on
its relevance in the epoch of compliance management. This is because it is still constrained with
some administrative and institutional challenges. For instance the Commissioner General’s
interpretation only stops with few individual officials based on their positions/ranks and not
filtered down to the rank and files of other of the other official within the lower cadres at the
level of the tax authority. This is a practicing norm by administrative design policies where only
few individuals are opportune to be aware of any public rulings and sadly it has never been
officially published for all and sundry officials within the tax administration, to have a clear
glimpse on the adopted interpretation on a specific provision where there was ambiguity. The
absence of not taking along all officials of the tax administration in the same wave-lengths in
issues of decided public rulings by the Commissioner General is a major concern and needs to be
properly looked into with high degree of care, caution and tenacity to avoid tax officials been
found wanton and administering tax issues based on their perceptive understanding without any
guided course of proper interpretations that could breed unresolved complexities associated with
unbound inconsistencies and clarities.
5.0 Conclusion and Policy Recommendation

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The paper attempted to provide a substantive meaning to the issues and need for public and
private rulings in accordance to the Laws of Taxation in the Gambia, as sanctioned by the
Income and Value Added Tax Act (IVATA, 2012) which requires the Commissioner General of
the tax authority (GRA) to issue rulings as per his interpretation on the applications of certain
provisions of the mentioned Act to achieve meaningful, well-coordinated and better
administration in relation to definitiveness of purpose, clarity and simpler understanding of all
and sundry in the business of taxation.
The following policies are recommended for the successful execution of taxation ruling
mechanisms in The Gambia:
1. Structural and institutional transition from the psyche of unpublished to a culture of
published tax rulings on certain taxation decisions on the provisions of The Gambia’s law of
taxation.
2. Provision of meaningful taxpayer education programmes to raise the awareness of the
general taxpayers’ on taxation matters in order to address the proliferation of tax legislations
(laws, policies and regulations) that are inconsistent or obscure as a result of ambiguity in
design.
3. The institutionalisation of a robust and well-meaning conventional rulings mechanism in
place in the form of a policy or regulation in order to unreservedly pilot a promising and
progressive way to incentivise proper interpretation, all geared towards clearing doubts and
any act of misunderstanding;
4. Timely publications of the Commissioner General’s interpretation on the application of the
enshrined provisions of the Gambia’s laws of taxation to the taxpayers’ and the tax officials
for better public consumption;
5. Ensure clarity, simplification, consistency and rhythm of conformity in the applications of
the provisions of the tax laws by the tax officials;
6. Avoid of any form of unnecessary complexity and uncertainty on the application of laws;
7. Establishment of strategic partnership that is mutually-inclusive with the taxpayers’ and other
stakeholders to spearhead public consultations on meaningful tax reforms;
8. Doing away with any form of inconsistency with the policy the legislation was intended to
implement;

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9. Enhance the tax knowledge of the tax officials to better dissect tax knowledge and
information to the taxpayers’ with greater clarity and meaning towards meeting their tax
obligations;
10. Timely reviewing of tax policies, laws and regulations to align them with prevailing
economic realities
This paper argues that there is a trade-off between tax rulings and taxpayers’ confidence level
and increase in compliance culture in the tax system. In short, rulings are the necessary
preconditions for setting the avenue of understanding better taxation decision in terms of
interpretation and consistency on the applications of certain provisions on the laws of taxations
in The Gambia for the taxpayers in general. However, the publishing and distribution of taxation
rulings for inclusive general public consumption does not only serves as an enabler that promotes
self-regulated voluntary compliance culture, but equally provides the impetus of saving any a tax
administration from the dangers of unbridle and eroding confidence that stifles taxpayers
trustworthiness to the tax system. It is not only a fundamental requirement but equally an
expedient course of action that is timely and purposeful to contain any form of ambiguity that
has the tendencies of inciting any form of confusion and deficiencies, thus corrupting the
taxpayers’ confidence over a tax system. Therefore, the Commissioner General’s rulings must be
objectively reasonable and anchored within the confines of inclusively-mutually accepted prism
to avoid any form of deficient or lame interpretations that could intensify possible public
uprising and tax aversion as a result of expressed dissatisfaction over certain administrative and
applicable lapses on the provisions of the tax laws, thus negating taxpayers’ savings and
investments.
References
1. Goode, R. (1984). Government Finance in Developing Countries. The Brooking
Institution, Washington, D.C.
2. Flint, A. (2005). Unintended Consequence. The Tax Journal, Issue 775, p24.
3. Income and Value Added Tax Act (2012): Taxation Laws of the Gambia. ISSN 0796-
0298, p 176, s250 ss1-3.

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4. Saleemi, N. A. (2008). Taxation Simplified: Revised and Updated. Saleemi Publications,
Kenya, p36.
5. Wong, A. P. K. (2008). A comparative study of the taxation of business profits –
especially ‘online’ profits – in Australia and the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region of the People’s Republic of China, Published Research Paper.