The newly introduced carbon tax is being questioned, especially since the carbon tax is going into government Account Number One at Treasury and not towards the environment, natural resource and climate change management sub sector.

Minister of finance Joseph Mwanamvekha said carbon tax will be calculated based on the engine capacity of the motor vehicle and the applicable rates ranging from K4 000 to K11 500. The national coordinator of the Civil Society Network on Climate Change (Cisonecc), Julius Ng’oma, welcomed the development, but argued that the carbon tax revenue needs to be channeled to Climate Change Fund.

In other tax related news, figures from April showed that corporate tax underperformed during the first half of this fiscal year.

Figures show that a 20.3% drop was registered, when compared to figures from the same period in 2018. According to the presentations by the minister, Treasury amassed K479 bn, which was lower than K456.7 bn collected last year. The presentation also noted a drop in non-tax revenues which together will the tax underperformance, will affect Malawis economy in the rest of the fiscal year.