A legacy of upholding the value of people and service is what Mark Dixon – outgoing CEO of the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) – hopes he is leaving behind when he ends his tenure at the end of the month.
Mr Dixon resigned early this month after 18 months on the job.
“Two things stand out for me in terms of what I hope I’ve given FRCS,” he said.
“The first of that is I think we’ve changed our culture in terms of how we look after our people, by actually becoming an employer of choice, especially in the current environment of skills migration and everything else, we really have to invest in our people and I think I’ve worked really hard to do that.
“To demonstrate that I care about our staff, that their welfare is important to me and only by supporting them and training them properly will they deliver for me in terms of customer service,” he said.
“The second one obviously is to become that service-centric organisation. So if you have got good staff, those good staff will look after your customers well. And I think we’ve seen that shift in how we interact and partner with taxpayers large and small, it’s a really important change and we’re going forward obviously with all of our tax administration online as well.
“So, the aim is to make it easy for people to be compliant with their taxes and hard for them not to be and I think our new compliance improvement strategy, our new strategic plan, they’re really important milestone achievements for FRCS,” he added.
Mr Dixon was chief guest at the celebration by FRCS of MSME Day 2023, in which 100 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) operators from around the country were awarded certificates of recognition after undergoing tax compliance and financial literacy trainings held by FRCS.
“It’s okay to look after big taxpayers and it’s also really important, as we’ve seen today, that we look after the micro, small and medium enterprises because they are the ones that can diversify and grow our economy going forward. When you think about the diversity of people in the room, in terms of all different backgrounds, all different ages, all looking at new businesses, that diversification is going to be the answer to a lot of Fiji’s future growth. So, absolutely a very important sector,” he said.
The former army officer also brushed aside suggestions that his exit had political undertones and insisted it was purely personal.
“I’ve been very open about it. I love Fiji, I love FRCS, I feel privileged to have been here. I hope I’ve made a big difference to the organisation in the time I’ve been here but at some point I have to give back to my own family, rather than my Fijian family.
“So I’ve been here on my own a substantial amount of time. Really important and I’m looking forward to going back home and spending some more time with my family,” he said.
