The Tonse Alliance government has come under fire from Malawians over the continued delay to implement the K100,000 tax free band.
The implementation of the tax free band was one of the key campaign promises of the Tonse Alliance led by Lazarus Chakwera who was voted president of Malawi in June.
In the 2020/21 budget which was passed on Wednesday, government increased the tax free band from MK45,000 per month to MK100,000 per month.
However, the Ministry of Finance has said that the new tax measure will not be implemented this month because it awaits tabling of the Taxation Amendment Bill.
Williams Banda, spokesperson in the Ministry of Finance, said the will be tabled during the ongoing session of Parliament.
The tax free band increase was also included in the provisional budget passed in July this year but was not implemented due to failure to table the Taxation Amendment Bill.
The delay has since led to suspicions that the government is failing to deliver on the promise.
“This is now trying to frustrate us, but be mindful that we are the ones who put you in leadership, this is complete nonsense,” said Martin Kamchibazi.
Mark Katandulah Adam said: “When is the tax bill going to be tabled in parliament? Because the MPs will conclude their deliberations soon!!! Are they going to table it during this session of parliamentary deliberation? These politicians they just want to play with our calmness mmmmmmm!!!!!”
While Steve Chikaonda said: “They introduced VAT on cooking oil it started operating immediately, they introduced withholding tax on gambling and now effective without tax bill amendment. They introduced 100pin tax free on income, it requires tax amendment yet a policy. The so called social commentators are just quiet. I have never heard this. Bola APM promised only those he could do.”
