Mbabane: Eswatini’s business community has cried foul on what they called SRA’s selective approach in allocating the E90 million relief fund to small businesses in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic which has depleted retailers’ coffers.
The money will be divided between small businesses depending on what they what they submitted to SRA in addition to their compliance in directly paying taxes. Businesses that have not honoured their obligation to directly pay their tax to government’s revenues are exempted from the fund, something which has raised concerns with business entities who felt whether formal or informal businesses should all come to benefit.
Federation of Eswatini Business Community (FESBC) Hezekiel Mabuza said in the end informal businesses come to contribute towards taxation albeit indirectly, where the money is collected by one entity in the supply chain, usually a producer or retailer and paid to the government. He said the money is passed on to the consumer as part of the purchase price of a good or service. The consumer is ultimately paying the tax by paying more for the product, said Mabuza. Fuel, liquor, groceries and cigarette taxes are all examples of indirect taxes.
Mabuza said the COVID-19 pandemic was a national disaster that sought relevant authorities to ignore failure on people and look to a rescue mission, after-which authorities can effect corrective measures on situations where people do not fulfil their obligations like the payment of direct taxes. “Are we saying the informal sector should be lent to suffer the effects of the pandemic all because they are not paying their taxes?” asked Mabuza.
Drawn for comment SRA Commissioner Dumsani Masilela said the ruling to select only the compliant businesses emanated from government which according to him was a move to encourage them.
Masilela said they were made to understand that government doesn’t have money to rescue small businesses and all they could vouch for was the E90 million from the taxes paid by the companies. “Unlike other countries like for instance Botswana Eswatini has no stock in her reserves which she would use for the rescue mission,” said Masilela.
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