by SAVIOUS KWINIKA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – ZIMBABWEANS in the Diaspora have decried the Budget Presentation as a further deterrent of them investing back home after the government imposed taxes on some foodstuffs.
Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, presented the budget in Parliament on Thursday, much to the disappointment of millions outside the country, a majority in neighbouring South Africa.
The budget has been described as “anti-people” amid arguments it showed the government was desperate to raise funds through the newly-introduced taxes.
“Honestly, how can a country attract meaningful investment when its government taxes consumers for buying pizza, burgers, hot dogs, French fries, tacos, chicken and doughnuts,” Tafira Muchenje, a member of the Zimbabwe Diaspora (ZDF), queried.
Exiled former minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Walter Mzembi, reacted, “What is the point of listening to a Budget Presentation that takes us nowhere?”
He compared Zimbabwe to neighbouring Botswana, where with its only lucrative resource – diamond, it could provide basics to its citizens for free.
“Yet a country (Zimbabwe) with 60 minerals taxes you death while paying legacy debts of $22 billion and compensating land stolen from our ancestors a 100 years ago,” Mzembi said..
Exiled journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono, accused the government of massive corruption, which had left the government coffers dry, hence the need to impose taxes on the country’s 95 percent of unemployed citizens to raise money.
He derided the fact that the budget presentation coincided with a power outage.
“They looted all the money now they present national budgets in the dark,” Chin’ono remarked.
Former opposition Mount Pleasant Member of Parliament (MP), Fadzayi Mahere, took a swipe at finance minister Ncube for arriving in Parliament in one of the most expensive vehicles in the market currently.
“You (Ncube) paid 0-percent import duty (for the car) yet you make a budget statement that squeezes every drop of blood from the taxpayer,” Mahere said.
She added, “To cap it all off, your solution to the economic crisis is to tax chicken and chips, njuga and rental income.”
Ncube infuriated some by saying the power outage during his presentation was “a sign of the darkness to come.”
Meanwhile, the government of president Mnangagwa introduced new taxes such as Fast Foods Tax, Betting Tax, Plastic Carrier Bag Tax, Rental Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax.
There is also Excise Duty on Alcoholic Beverages, Royalties on Quarry Stones, Customs Duty on Electric Vehicles, Special Surtax on Cordials and VAT on Liquefied Petroleum Gas.
Other additions are Corporate Income Tax on Building Societies, Degree of Export Orientation for SEZs, Mandatory Tax Registration for Emerging Sectors, Changes to VAT Payment Deadlines and Reduced Interest Rate for Local Currency Revenue Remittances.
The economy has been on a freefall over the past two decades, a far cry from independence in 1980 when the former Rhodesia was among the largest economies in Africa.
– CAJ News