2% Transaction Tax Going Nowhere, Finance Minister Says It’s Going To Give Civil Servants Wages They Deserve

One thing that’s for sure: electronic transactions are now expensive in Zimbabwe. Ironically so when the government says they are pushing for a cashless economy. I don’t know how they think but taxing electronic transactions exorbitantly is hardly pushing for a cashless economy.

We all hoped that the tax will be going away soon. When an outcry was raised against it, Mthuli Ncube, the Finance and Economic Development minister said the tax was temporary. I guess not as temporary as I guessed because here are recent remarks from the minister:

Income from 2 % tax will also be used to rejuvenate and improve the new Zimbabwe; building schools, roads and making sure our nurses, doctors and teachers receive the wages they deserve. Shelves in shops are now full and fuel lines have petered out.

The guy has plans for the money raised through this tax!

The legality of the tax is still in question but there doesn’t seem to be a care. I guess it’s because they are gettimng all that money. The government was already charging a tax on electronic transactions for some years now but they used to levy a flat $0.05 per transaction. With the increase of the tax to 2% they earned 889% more out of our transactions in the 4th quarter of 2018 than they did in the third quarter. No wonder…

Mthuli Ncube

Professor Mthuli Ncube is the Minister of Finance and Economic Development.He was the Chief Economist and Vice President of the African Development Bank ,financial, economics, investment, and public policy expert, entrepreneur and academic. Professor Ncube divides his time between the private sector in Switzerland and… Read More About Mthuli Ncube