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part of efforts to reward people paying taxes, a Parliamentary portfolio Committee has been told. The portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion wasa dvised that the proposed Income Tax Bill did not provide incentives for people to continue paying tax but instead sought to penalize those who default even in circumstances that would be beyond their control.

This was said by a Harare businessman and tax expert Mr Dieter Balzer during a public hearing convened by the Committee, chaired by Makoni West MP, Mr Webbo Chinyadza (MDC-T) to hear people’s views on the proposed Bill which is now before Parliament.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti is steering the Bill.

“We need tax credits, it should be extended from health to education, Zimbabwe prides itself as one of the most literate countries on the continent, so there is need for tax benefits,” said Mr Balzer.

He said it was unfortunate that the Bill sought to penalize people who might fail to pay tax in one instance but might have previously been consistently and religiously paying their dues.

“The Bill should not be passed in its current form,’ he said.

Mr Balzer said the Bill has a provision for one to only claim tax credit on motor vehicles worth US$ 10 000 yet a good car costs more than that.

“This provision only encourages people to buy second hand vehicles because they are the only vehicles you can buy with that money. A good car costs at least US$20 000. It is also important to note that the Government has been on record discouraging the buying of second hand vehicles,” he said.

Many other tax experts expressed reservations on the Bill saying it was important that Government realized that most businesses were relying more on borrowed capital hence the need to relax some of the provisions in the Bill if local businesses were to survive.