Zimbabwe to scrap AIDS levy
The government is planning on scrapping the AIDS levy and introduce a single National Health Fund to fight various health care challenges.
Zimbabwe introduced a compulsory 3% Aids levy to all employees with taxable incomes and their employers in 1999 to fund Aids mitigation programmes.
On Wednesday Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Paul Chimedza said once the National Health Fund is in place, Zimbabwe will no longer have things like the Aids levy or cancer levy, but a single fund for all health care issues.
“What we are saying is that we cannot introduce a levy for every disease that affects many people in our country, otherwise we will end up with the Aids levy, cancer levy, hypertension levy, or diabetes levy,” said Dr Chimedza.
“The way to go is to just create a National Health Fund and not compartmentalize the fight against diseases. While the need to introduce a levy to help victims of cancer is noble, our workers are already over-taxed and burdened enough,” he said.
Apart from Aids levy, Zimbabweans also pay 3,5 percent of their salaries up to a fixed level towards the National Social Security Authority and Pay As You Earn, which is at least 20 percent of taxable income above US$250 (tax-free threshold).