President Lazarus Chakwera’s Tonse alliance administration says will not review taxes amid growing concerns over punitive levies.
Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda made the remarks in Lilongwe during a press briefing.
According to Chakaka Nyirenda, tax issues as non-negotiable as government relies much on taxes to fund different development projects in different sectors.
Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) recently reiterated its stand against what it calls punitive tax regimes that end up punishing the vulnerable and the marginalized Malawians who are in majority in the country.
They have reached to a point of no return after squandering our taxes. The song they are singing of not finding money in government coffers is not a new one because we have heard that in the past. If money was not there, how come was Chakwera always on the move abroad as well as locally? Everyone knows that the whole world is struggling economically but their leaders had ‘Self Monetary Discipline’ and bore the financial pangs together with their people. Malawians cannot understand when an individual accompanied by his family members engages on a world tour carrying with them huge allowances in dollars and yet there is dire poverty glaring its ugly face to the citizens. How many times did us tax payers pleaded with him to reduce his globetrotting escapades? His ‘Servant Leadership’ mantra is really a shame and even himself is regretting having crafted such a lie. If he is indeed what he says he is, let him kickstart an economy that will at least bring back the country on it’s feet. When he was in the opposition he rushed into castigating and pointing fingers at others as if he had the best plans for the country. Instead he has taken us 50 years backwards. In self-made problems like these you will not succeed no matter how good your spinners are because the evidence to show that people are struggling comes out automatically without any inducements. This is almost 18 months since Tonse was gifted the chance to taste power and after the lapse of that time they definitely cannot blame anybody else but themselves, not even Chilima because the bulk of the cabinet is MCP, and the public reform report Chilima presented has just been sat on in the state house, what is he afraid of for him not to release the findings?
Amid punitive taxes be assured government will continue bracing challenges in cash flow. Low propensity to spend plus escalating inflation the economy is bound for failure