TAX COMPLIANT MALAWIANS TO BE REWARDED – CHAKWERA

President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera says his second term, which commences on September 16 this year, will reward tax compliant businesses and citizens as way of reforming Malawi’s tax regime to make it more effective in line with his administration’s development agenda.

Speaking at the 25^th anniversary celebration of the country’s revenue agency, Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), the President highlighted that the past five years have centred on laying foundation of civic education about the importance of paying taxes on top of ensuring that the common man benefits from the pro-poor policies the administration initiated.

“Over the past five years, we laid a foundation of strengthening governance in the institution of the Malawi Revenue Authority, and now we are ready to build on that foundation with broadening the tax base over the next five years. Now we are ready to build on that foundation by adopting certain policies that will reward those who do so and decentivize those who do not, such as our plan to place tax compliant agents at retail stores and service centres to check that every customer is being given a tax receipt to end years of cheating Malawians with false and arbitrary pricing.”

He also hinted that government plans to fully abolish any form of cash payment towards any tax requirements.

Now we are ready to build on that foundation by adopting certain policies that will reward those who do so and decentivize those who do not, such as our plan to place tax compliant agents at retail stores and service centres to check that every customer is being given a tax receipt to end years of cheating Malawians with false and arbitrary pricing.

“Over the past five years, we have laid the foundation of strengthening systems of accountability and transparency in the manner we collect and utilize taxes and fees, and now we are ready to build on that foundation with the new policy to be adopted over the next five years where we will abolish the use of cash for the payment of taxes and all government services across the country, thus ending decades of abuse against citizens within Government premises.”

He added, “Our plan is to ensure that every tax-paying citizen is being furnished with an annual tax certificate which they can use to get discounts on some public services like water, electricity, and toll fees.”

The MRA anniversary celebration was convened to recognize the invaluable contribution of taxpayers to the country’s development over the past 25 years and it was held under the theme: "My Tax, Our Development, Our Country: Honouring the past, shaping the future."

Established in 1998, MRA is a government agency responsible for assessing, collecting, and accounting for tax revenue. The institution was established to improve tax collection and management.

The revenue collected by the MRA is crucial for funding various government projects and services, including infrastructure development, social services, and national security.

Among Chakwera’s notable achievements around taxation issues is the expansion of the tax-free income for everyone earning less than 100,000 Kwacha.

The President is now geared to expand the same to a larger base of the population.

“Now we are ready to build on that foundation with a tax cut of no less than 10 percent for everyone across the board over the next five years.”