Following accusations that government is extorting its citizens through heavy tax to recover from COVID-19 nemesis, Minister of Finance Peggy Serame has quashed the allegations in Parliament.
Responding to a question from Specially Elected Member of Parliament (SEMP) Unity Dow who had enquired if taxing people more is a guiding principle to raise the government revenue.
Dow, further enquired if the guiding principle looks to only take money away from citizens' pockets or ameliorate their lives.
In response to the question posed to her, Serame stated that it has never been government’s intention to extort its citizens with their guiding principles and they will not start now.
“The government’s guiding principle on post COVID-19 recovery is definitely not taxing people more to raise the government revenue,” she said.
She however, acknowledged that some of the guiding principles that the government adopted have not been good to Batswana.
“However, the overall policy included a holistic approach that might have included revision of some taxes and levies,” Serame said.
To further showcase that government has not been extorting Batswana, Serame reminded Dow of the time Value Added Tax (VAT) was reduced to make things easier for people.
“During the 2022/23 we responded by reducing VAT for a few months, adding some goods to the list of zero rated items and exempted some services from VAT,” she highlighted.
She denoted that government would continue coming up with initiatives that looks after Batswana like Chema Chema.
