No Diaspora tax — Mangwana says its fake news

By Peter Matika

The Government has dismissed claims that it seeks to introduce a “diaspora tax” where Zimbabweans living outside the country would be forced to pay tax.

This comes after some online media publications have over the past week claimed that Government was seeking ways of making every Zimbabwean in the diaspora community pay between US$25 to US$100 per month, as tax depending on where they are based.

Permanent Secretary for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Mr Ndavaningi Nick Mangwana, said there was no such proposal by the Government.

“First of all there is no such proposal from Government or any Government official. In fact this is fake news, we are discussing fake news. There is nothing to discuss with fake news,” said Mr Mangwana.

Yesterday morning Mr Mangwana tweeted on his official twitter account, saying he had engaged the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Mr George Guvamatanga, after he had received numerous messages from concerned Zimbabweans about the issue.

He tweeted: “Having received many messages from the good Zimbabwean people living in the diaspora asking about some alleged ‘Diaspora Tax’, I spoke to my bro Perm Secretary for Finance Mr George Guvamatanga who confirmed there is no such a tax and no thinking along those lines.”

Some online publications claimed that some senior Government officials had revealed to them that the Government was working on modalities to introduce the measure, after the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube presented his economic policy last week.

It was claimed that Zimbabweans based in the Sadc region would pay US$25, those in the rest of the African continent US$50 and those based overseas US$100 in presumptive tax per month. Sunday News