This month the Minister of Finance Prof. Mthuli Ncube is expected to present the Mid-Term Budget Review amid calls for revising Zimbabwe’s tax regime.
The budget review is a key policy-making platform and an opportunity to review fiscal policies not working in favour of Zimbabweans.
The public has been calling for the reduction of taxes and the removal of the Intermediated Monetary Transfer Tax (IMTT) of 2018. Yet taxes have been increased.
These have eroded the initial benefits gained through raising the ZiG tax-free threshold to ZiG 2800 per month in the 2025 National Budget. The ZiG income tax-free threshold and the USD 100 income tax-free threshold should be revised upwards.
The question of diversification of revenue streams is also more urgent.
The Mid Term Review is also an opportunity to address the issue of revenue leakages.
In June 2025, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament received a list of companies from the Treasury that have not been honouring government contracts and failing to provide services and goods after receiving payments.
ZITAP advocates removing these revenue leakages.
Illicit mineral trade, for instance, estimated at over USD 100 per month by the Southern Africa Resource Watch in minerals such as gold and critical battery metals should be stemmed by strengthening monitoring and anti-corruption institutions.
In the context of Zimbabwe’s ongoing macroeconomic stabilisation, ZITAP also calls for the equal sharing of the socioeconomic burden.
Fiscal and monetary discipline must be balanced with the need to maintain decent public services.
Companies must pay their fair share of the tax burden, but this also requires streamlining the revenue collection system and removal of compliance costs.
The finance minister must honour the commitments that he has repeatedly made since 2018 to review the tax regime. The over 50 taxes and regulatory fees paid by companies must be reduced and streamlined.
Since compliance takes a significant part of companies’ time and resources, this tax regime is prohibitive to the formalisation of small businesses, hosting a significant part of Zimbabwe’s economic activity.