Thelma Wandayi
GWERU: The Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Development Clemence Chiduwa has today revealed that the 2% tax set on goods is here to stay.
Tax charged on all electronic transactions was introduced by Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube through Statutory Instrument (SI) 205/2018 to help government cushion its revenue.
The gazette has never been popular with the citizenry who said government was digging into their already injured pockets while on the other hand government pleaded with the general populace that the development was necessary in healing the ailing economy.
The general populace was in this case made to believe it would later be scraped once government achieves certain goals towards economic stabilization.
Speaking during a stakeholders meeting held at a local hotel in Gweru today, Minister Chiduwa however said that government later realised the need to keep the tax in place so as to access revenue from the highly informal economy.
He also urged people not to be hurt as he justified the tax’s existence saying it has always in place though it was implemented differently.
“Having realised that about 70% of the economy is informal; the 2% tax was the only available option that we get revenue. The tax is now here to stay as it has strengthened our revenue collection,” he said.
“The tax has also been always in place though packaged differently so we must not really be worried about this,” he added.
Participants however asked whether it was not over milking a tax payer who has had tax withheld via salary and also through purchase of goods while other local authority heads pleaded with the Minister to remove the tax on expected devolution funds so as to have the money fully utilized.
The Minister however respectively responded that taxing mobile transactions was ‘…a whole new system which should not be put in the same bracket with other existing taxes’ while also promising to ‘…table the request to have the 2% tax scrapped from devolution funds for consideration.’
previous post