MUTARE– Priorities of the 2022 national budget must not only address COVID-19 impacts as solely a public health issue, as the pandemic has worsened already existing inequalities says the Zimbabwe Fight Inequality Alliance.
The alliance, says given these realities, the 2022 National Budget presents a ray of hope to reduce these inequalities and cater for the needs and aspirations of the poor and vulnerable citizens.
In a statement, the alliance said social protection, healthcare, food security, energy supply, water and sanitation as well as taxation as seven priority areas that should be addressed with urgency by the government.
“Government must meet the 15% Abuja Declaration for the health sector in the 2022 National Budget, ring-fence the 2% tax for social protection and allocate at least 4.5% of the National Budget towards social protection,” said the Alliance.
“Boost agricultural production through an incremental budgetary allocation of at least 10% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to help revive the sector and redress hunger and poverty levels which are now considered as extreme.
“Promote climate-smart agriculture to reverse the effects of climate change on agriculture production,” the statement added.
FIA said currently Zimbabwe has a taxation system that weighs heavily on the shoulders of the poor and vulnerable in Zimbabwe as it called for tax relief measures to reduce the tax burden on the poor and marginalized.
Zimbabweans whose disposable incomes have been severely affected by the pandemic must be spared the tax burden through strengthening Domestic Resource Mobilisation, curbing illicit financial flows and pugging out mineral resource leakages said the Alliance.
“The 2022 National Budget must Introduce Wealth Tax to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor through ensuring that those with more are taxed more. Introduce and provide for lifestyle audits for public officials to reduce fleecing of the national purse which tends to shift the burden of resource mobilisation through taxation to citizens,” the statement further reads.
Conservatively, at least 2.8 million people in Zimbabwe are in extreme poverty relying on the assistance of the World Food Programme in partnership with various humanitarian organizations such as World Vision, Care International, Goal International and Plan International.
