Published by the government of Zimbabwe
16 October 2009
Harare — ZIMBABWE's tax regime is the lowest in the Sadc region but the challenge is that the Government is solely reliant on it, a Cabinet minister has said.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said he would soon rationalise the tax laws for them to be more robust.
The minister said this last weekend during a television interview with a local independent production.
"Our tax levels are very low, we are actually one of the countries with the lowest tax levels in the region. The only challenge is that as Government we solely rely on tax," said Minister Biti.
"We have also failed to attract foreign direct investment which is important for job creation. Our major source of income has been tax and the cake is very small as it is being solely supplied by tax."
The country, said Minister Biti, has so many taxes, and they are at variance with each other hence the need to rationalise them.
"We have income tax, corporate tax, carbon tax and so forth and it needs to be rationalised. It is one of the things that I will be addressing in the November budget," he said.
He said one tax that needs urgent address was the income tax law.
"The Income tax Act is old and archaic and they are very few lawyers and accountants who understand it. These are critical issues we are looking at and we will be addressing in the 2010 national budget in November," said Minister Biti without elaborating.
He paid tribute to officials from his ministry saying he wished the same commitment they had shown would resonate throughout the public service.
"If the commitment I have found from my officials in the ministry could be replicated in other Government departments, we could be somewhere," he said.
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