Malawi Revenue Authority set to start collecting carbon tax on vehicles
Revenue collectors, the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) say they will start collecting carbon tax on vehicles from Monday, a move that has received mixed reactions from Malawians.
Spokesperson for MRA Steve Kapoloma says this follows the introduction of the tax by the government in the 2019/20 national budget.
Carbon tax is a fee imposed on the burning of carbon based fuels which are coal, oil and gas among others.
Kapoloma said the tax is payable annually and the amount depends on the engine size of the motor vehicle.
Those with vehicles with an engine size of 1500 will be paying K4,000 while those with a vehicle size of 1501 to 2000 will be required to pay K8, 000, those with capacity of 2001 to 3000 will pay K11, 500 any size above 3,000 will attract a K15, 500.
But writing on Facebook, Thandie wa Phulimueya says: “We have eight vehicles per capita. Literally less than almost everyone in the world but a few. We are one of the bottom countries for car ownership. We are something like 164th on carbon emissions. Our proportion of global emissions is practically negligible.”
She says if the government want to protect the environment, then the Malawi solution is to plant more trees.
“Taxing the few thousand car owners that we have to reduce carbon emissions is a joke,” she says.
She concludes: “Right solution wrong audience! Stay in your lane plant more trees instead of coining ways of stealing from car owners.”
What about those who use firewood for cooking. This is the largest grounp which could have been imposed with this kind of tax
basi kungodzuka lelo mawa tipeleke tax. mxiiii taking us for a ride etiii
Govt is so desperate to milk Malawians even more to fund useless projects like building football stadiums for private clubs to fulfil useless political manifestos that can never help our country to develop ….
It would have been fairer to add this tax onto the price of fuel. After all, it is the burning of the fuel which is releasing the “carbon” to the atmosphere. Thus, owners of vehicles causing the most pollution would pay most for it, rather than those of us who own cars but use them wisely. Anyway, we know that this tax will not be used to protect the environment, but rather to fund stupidities like football stadiums (or stadia if one is being pedantic) for private clubs, or paying allowances to police planted at intervals along the road as… Read more »