The South Sudanese government maintains that all foreign employees working in the country must pay the new fees to obtain work permits.
This comes despite appeals from the United Nations and Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission to drop the new fees.
The government insists it’s not taxing aid organizations, and that only diplomats will be exempted from the fees.
“We are not taxing the organizations, all the organizations are exempted from taxes but not employees of these organizations, because they are people who came here to work and they are earning their livings through these work so they must pay those taxes, these are rights of the government.” Michael Makuei Lueth, the Minister of Information, said.
The new levies will require foreigners to pay up to $10,000 to obtain work permits, with those working in the informal sector set to pay $1000.
The government insisted that this is a means by the government to get more revenue, away from the conventional sources.
It however insists that the move to hike the fees is not a way of barring foreign organizations from operating in the country.
