'Abolish pink tax'
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Wednesday February 19, 2020 09:48
When responding to the Budget Speech on Monday, which was read earlier this month by Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Thapelo Matsheka at the National Assembly, Keorapetse said; “We vehemently reject all increase of hidden taxes in the form of service fees and levies because our people are already burdened by black tax and low wages. Please abolish Pink Tax; we believe that tampons, sanitary napkins, menstrual cups, and comparable products are basic, unavoidable necessities for women and should be made tax exempt”.
He said rather government should consider weighted tax on luxury goods.
“Let us begin to think about financial transactions taxes as well as employment tax incentives for companies that employ young people. Let us deal firmly with transfer pricing,” he said.
Keorapetse said conventional tax would erode the purchasing power of Batswana and even make life more expensive for them.
“This is not an innovative way of raising revenue. In fact, there are no clear ideas of how the minister seeks to raise new revenue substantially. There are no new ideas of how this economy will generate wealth and raise more revenue,” he said.
The MP said there is need to modernise our infrastructure and as soon as possible, make A1 from Ramatlabama to Ramokgwebana a multiple carriageway, a super highway that can boost the economy.
He said there is need to modernise the railway network and make trains safer.
“Let’s invest more on research and development, at least one percent of the GDP. We should mobilise domestic savings in sectors such as pension funds to finance infrastructure development. Let’s invest more of our foreign reserves in our economy. We need to have our high value tourism payments to be made home. Let’s invest our pensions in our economy, 75% of over P150 billion is invested offshore. Tollgates are long overdue. Impose development covenants and heavy tax on absentee landlords who own huge chucks of freehold land,” he said.
He said Matsheka’s speech has failed dismally to serve as transformational to Batswana’s socio-economic lives.