‘Moderate’ to ‘vague’, say opposition parties

THE National Budget tabled by Finance Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila yesterday does not exactly shower relief on the poor and marginalised Namibians, as pensions did not go up and the first tax relief in 10 years is marginal, opposition parties represented in Parliament said yesterday.

‘It is good that the entry level for paying income tax was increased from N$36 000 to N$40 000 as announced by the Minister,’ said Johan de Waal, Chairman of the DTA. But, said the Minister should have further lowered the entry level tax, which stands at 27%.’N$40 000 income per year translates into a salary of N$3 330 per month and taxed at 27 per cent it means N$900 dollars is deducted, leaving only N$2 430 in the hand to spend. The taxation percentage could have been much lower, since many Namibians earn such low salaries,’ De Waal added. In his view the Finance Minister’s Budget speech was ‘rather vague and very little detail revealed’. However, De Waal welcomed the fact that some tax relief will be granted and that the income brackets have been adjusted at last. ‘Introducing a tax bracket for top earners from N$750 000 upwards a year, who have to pay 37 per cent tax, is very good,’ he said. The DTA politician said the announcement of an environment levy was a good move by Government. ‘Unfortunately the Minister did not reveal any details how this levy will be calculated and that is what I mean by vague.’The President of the Republican Party, Henk Mudge, was critical of the Minister Kuugongelwa-Amadhila not increasing State pensions. A year ago she increased them from N$370 to N$450 a month. ‘The cost of living has risen tremendously in the past 12 months and not raising the pensions is immoral in my view,’ Mudge told The Namibian.’Government found lots of money to create a new ministry just two years ago and dishing out N$2 000 monthly to war veterans, but the ordinary senior citizen must live on N$450 per month, that is not good.’He also said that the corporate tax, which was lowered just one per cent from 35 to 34 per cent for non-mining companies, was still too high. ‘In South Africa and Botswana corporate tax is well below 30 per cent and I fear that investors might not choose Namibia as investment destination any more as they are taxed far less in neighbouring countries.’Mudge however praised the Finance Ministry for keeping good control over Government debt, which will be kept at bay with existing cash reserves. ‘I am also satisfied that Air Namibia this year will only receive N$100 million. Air Namibia has cost taxpayers altogether about N$2,4 billion in the past eight years, which rather could have been spent on health, education and pensions,’ Mudge added.He further said it was time Members of Parliament got involved in the Budget planning process to give input. ‘We only get the finished document on the table the day the budget is tabled – it is a secret until then. This should not be so, we as Parliamentarians should be part of the budget planning. It is therefore futile to debate on the new budget each year because not one single letter or one cent in the budgetary amount is getting changed,’ Mudge criticised. Jurie Viljoen of the Monitor Action Group (MAG) found the new N$25,5 billion budget – up from N$22,4 billion a year ago – ‘moderate’.’The Minister did not go into much detail on what exactly the Budget will be spent on, we will have to see how it turns out in practice, if the money goes to infrastructure, classrooms, hospitals and clinics,’ Viljoen said.Arnold Tjihuiko of Nudo agreed with Viljoen. ‘We want to see how this Budget works in reality, since Government recorded three per cent under-expenditure for the current fiscal year ending this month,’ Tjihuiko said. Fellow Nudo MP Asser Mbai said he hoped that the non-performing State-owned enterprises would not get bailouts in the new financial year. ‘Namcor needs N$200 million and Air Namibia wanted N$180 million, but will now receive only N$100 million, that is an improvement,’ Mbai said.Debate on the new budget will start on Tuesday.