Only half of Namibia’s taxpayers pay tax

INDIVIDUAL income tax rates should be reviewed and adjusted while at the same time tax-collection efforts should be increased, a member of the opposition has proposed in the National Assembly.

Only 133 489 of Namibia’s registered 298 725 individual taxpayers had their income assessed in the financial year ending in March 2005, Kala Gertze, Secretary General of the Congress of Democrats (CoD) said in Parliament on Tuesday. He tabled a motion calling for the appropriate regulation of the current taxation system and for accumulative pension payouts to be taxed on a lesser scale.Gertze’s plea came barely a week before the tabling of the new National Budget, in which some tax relief is expected.Gertze said according to official figures, fewer people have been paying tax for the past three years.For the year ending March 2003, 141 359 individuals had their income assessed and were taxed a collective N$1 722 billion.The following financial year, 138 032 individuals were assessed and paid N$1 866 billion in tax.For the year ending March 2005, even fewer people – only 133 489 out of 298 725 who are registered as taxpayers – had their income assessed, and collectively paid N$2 032 billion.Although Government’s tax revenue increased, the number of people who paid tax decreased, leaving about 50 per cent of individual taxpayers untaxed and thus less income for the State, Gertze argued.”The possibility exists that either 50 per cent of the total registered individual taxpayers did not submit their tax returns or they were not processed at the Receiver’s offices,” the CoD leader said.Another concern was the decline in the number of assessed individual taxpayers between the financial years 2003 to 2005, he added.”I can only think of a further decline in the number of tax assessments for the past tax year ending March 2006, Gertze added.”Real revenue to Government from individuals, if calculated and received from all of the registered 298 725 individual taxpayers, should help justify my plea for relaxation on specific incomes,” Gertze emphasised.He said taxable income brackets were not fair – people who got salary increases often ended up earning less because they fell in a higher tax bracket.For example, a friend of his declined a promotion, as this would have meant more stress with less pay after deductions than in his old position.Gertze also called for lower tax rates on pension payouts.”Suddenly at retirement, because of the cumulative amounts paid out, we become taxable.After tax, what is left due to us as a pension is next to nothing,” Gertze argued.”I appeal to all stakeholders, both in Government and in the insurance industry, to reach common ground on a gradual lessening of taxation on pension payouts in accordance with age at point of retirement,” he concluded.He tabled a motion calling for the appropriate regulation of the current taxation system and for accumulative pension payouts to be taxed on a lesser scale.Gertze’s plea came barely a week before the tabling of the new National Budget, in which some tax relief is expected.Gertze said according to official figures, fewer people have been paying tax for the past three years. For the year ending March 2003, 141 359 individuals had their income assessed and were taxed a collective N$1 722 billion.The following financial year, 138 032 individuals were assessed and paid N$1 866 billion in tax.For the year ending March 2005, even fewer people – only 133 489 out of 298 725 who are registered as taxpayers – had their income assessed, and collectively paid N$2 032 billion.Although Government’s tax revenue increased, the number of people who paid tax decreased, leaving about 50 per cent of individual taxpayers untaxed and thus less income for the State, Gertze argued.”The possibility exists that either 50 per cent of the total registered individual taxpayers did not submit their tax returns or they were not processed at the Receiver’s offices,” the CoD leader said.Another concern was the decline in the number of assessed individual taxpayers between the financial years 2003 to 2005, he added.”I can only think of a further decline in the number of tax assessments for the past tax year ending March 2006, Gertze added.”Real revenue to Government from individuals, if calculated and received from all of the registered 298 725 individual taxpayers, should help justify my plea for relaxation on specific incomes,” Gertze emphasised.He said taxable income brackets were not fair – people who got salary increases often ended up earning less because they fell in a higher tax bracket.For example, a friend of his declined a promotion, as this would have meant more stress with less pay after deductions than in his old position.Gertze also called for lower tax rates on pension payouts.”Suddenly at retirement, because of the cumulative amounts paid out, we become taxable.After tax, what is left due to us as a pension is next to nothing,” Gertze argued.”I appeal to all stakeholders, both in Government and in the insurance industry, to reach common ground on a gradual lessening of taxation on pension payouts in accordance with age at point of retirement,” he concluded.