{"id":42557,"date":"2023-03-11T22:17:43","date_gmt":"2023-03-11T22:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi"},"modified":"2023-03-12T07:23:20","modified_gmt":"2023-03-12T07:23:20","slug":"how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi","title":{"rendered":"How tax deals bleed Malawi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. <\/strong><\/span>Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe last week announced a K3.87 trillion budget which has a yawning gap due to inadequate resources. Now, according to a cluster committee of Parliament which is scrutinising the budget, government loses as much as K500 billion annually in tax expenditures \u2013 money some of which would have gone some way in plugging the deficit hole.<\/p>\n

With a total revenue estimated at K2.55 trillion, the national budget this year faces a deficit of K1.32 trillion. According to Gwengwe, the deficit will be financed through foreign borrowing amounting to K288.78 billion and domestic borrowing amounting to K1.19 trillion.<\/p>\n

It turns out that tax expenditure is a hidden side of government spending that is hurting the country\u2019s economy. Gladys Ganda, co-chairperson of the cluster committee scrutinising the budget, has since urged the government to review its tax expenditure or Malawi will keep hurtling down the cliff of lack of resources and being throttled by huge debts obtained to fill the deficit gap.<\/p>\n

In simple terms, tax expenditures are government revenue losses from tax exclusions, exemptions, deductions, and preferential rates. \u201cThe information that I have as budget and finance chairperson indicates that about K500 billion of revenue is being lost annually due to tax expenditures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is sad most especially to an economy which is not faring well,\u201d Ganda said. She said tax incentives are not essentially bad but not all of them are worth it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are done to attract investors into the country but there are some tax incentives that are unnecessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter whether you give them or not because companies would still come to invest anyway. A good example is the Kayelekera Uranium Mine. I see no need for a tax incentive on this mine,\u201d Ganda said.<\/p>\n

She added that there is need for the Ministry of Finance to review some of the tax incentives in order to recoup the lost revenue. \u201cSo we are looking forward to have a full discussion with Ministry of Finance to see what reforms they are going to take in the tax expenditure area to make sure the country doesn\u2019t lose much,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Reacting to the development, Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Finance, Patrick Zimpita, said some incentive deals are done following treaties the country is signatory to while others are done following policies that the country has.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they can give us a list of which tax incentives are unnecessary, the better,\u201d Zimpita said. Economist Edwin Simama has since joined the cluster in calling on the government to review its tax incentive regimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of these tax incentives are unnecessary. It is better that government should be giving the tax holidays to local companies who, after making profits, would benefit Malawians,\u201d Simama said.<\/p>\n

A policy brief issued by Norad and ActionAid in 2019 estimated that Malawi was losing about K88 billion each year to tax expenditures. This estimate, according to the brief, did not include some tax incentives for which data was not made available, including tax holidays, capital allowances and export tax exemptions.<\/p>\n

It also did not include tax losses incurred from discretionary tax incentives. \u201cThe total tax loss to incentives is therefore likely to be higher,\u201d said the two organisations in the brief.<\/p>\n

They cited tax exemptions in Malawi\u2019s Export Processing Zones and in mining and transportation sector. The report which focused on girls\u2019 education indicated that only 6 percent of the lost revenue then could educate 154,000 girls who were out of primary school.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Malawi<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe last week announced a K3.87 trillion budget which has a yawning gap due to inadequate resources. Now, according to a cluster committee of Parliament which is scrutinising the budget, government loses as much as K500 billion annually in tax expenditures \u2013 money some of which would have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":42556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12,410],"tags":[5704,233,371,5959,234],"class_list":["post-42557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","category-to-homepage","tag-2023-2024-national-budget","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-malawi","tag-kayelekera-uranium-mine","tag-malawi"],"yoast_head":"\nHow tax deals bleed Malawi - Malawi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe last week announced a K3.87 trillion budget which has a yawning gap due to inadequate ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How tax deals bleed Malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe last week announced a K3.87 trillion budget which has a yawning gap due to inadequate ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-11T22:17:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-12T07:23:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1678560574.41.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"735\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"How tax deals bleed Malawi\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-11T22:17:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-12T07:23:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi\"},\"wordCount\":599,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1678560574.41.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"2023-2024 National Budget\",\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Malawi\",\"Kayelekera Uranium mine\",\"Malawi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi\",\"name\":\"How tax deals bleed Malawi - Malawi\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1678560574.41.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-11T22:17:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-12T07:23:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe last week announced a K3.87 trillion budget which has a yawning gap due to inadequate ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1678560574.41.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1678560574.41.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":735,\"caption\":\"How tax deals bleed Malawi\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How tax deals bleed Malawi\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/\",\"name\":\"Malawi\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How tax deals bleed Malawi - Malawi","description":"Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe last week announced a K3.87 trillion budget which has a yawning gap due to inadequate ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How tax deals bleed Malawi","og_description":"Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe last week announced a K3.87 trillion budget which has a yawning gap due to inadequate ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi","og_site_name":"Malawi","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-03-11T22:17:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-12T07:23:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":735,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1678560574.41.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"How tax deals bleed Malawi","datePublished":"2023-03-11T22:17:43+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-12T07:23:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi"},"wordCount":599,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1678560574.41.jpg","keywords":["2023-2024 National Budget","Africa Press","Africa Press-Malawi","Kayelekera Uranium mine","Malawi"],"articleSection":["all news","head lines","policy","to-homepage"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi","name":"How tax deals bleed Malawi - Malawi","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1678560574.41.jpg","datePublished":"2023-03-11T22:17:43+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-12T07:23:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe last week announced a K3.87 trillion budget which has a yawning gap due to inadequate ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1678560574.41.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1678560574.41.jpg","width":720,"height":735,"caption":"How tax deals bleed Malawi"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/how-tax-deals-bleed-malawi#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How tax deals bleed Malawi"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/","name":"Malawi","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}