News / Health
Parliament mulls cancer levy
24 Nov 2013 at 19:09hrs | Views
ZIMBABWEANS, who are arguably among the highly taxed in the world, should brace for yet another deduction by the State from their payslips following an overwhelming support for a cancer levy in Parliament last week.
Legislators across the political divide in the National Assembly and the Senate endorsed the call for a levy that would go towards cancer management, but economists and workers said the move would be disastrous for the country.
MDC-T MP and former deputy Prime Minister Ms Thokozani Khupe introduced the motion in the Lower House recommending the introduction of a cancer levy.
Her MDC-T counterpart in the Upper House, Mrs Lilian Timveos moved another motion calling on Government to come up with a clear policy document on cancer in respect of awareness, counselling, screening, treatment and charges to be levied on cancer patients.
If Parliament adopts Ms Khupe's motion, Government can either adopt its principles or reject them.
Zimbabweans already pay 3,5 percent of their salaries towards the National Social Security Authority, while the employer contributes the other half.
They also pay other taxes including Pay As You Earn which is at least 20 percent of taxable income above US$250 (tax free threshhold), while Value Added Tax is at 15 percent, income tax is at least 25 percent, withholding tax for companies in the informal sector stands at 10 percent, Capital Gains Tax for profits accrued from the sale of immovable property is a flat five percent, while the Aids Levy stands at three percent.
Contributing to Ms Khupe's motion, Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Dr Paul Chimedza said his ministry was inclined toward introducing a National Health Insurance Fund that would cater for the global health care sector, including catering for cancer patients.
National Cancer Alliance of Zimbabwe executive director Dr Nelson Ngwaru said Ms Khupe jumped the gun by rushing to introduce the motion without consultations.
"We are in support of the cancer levy, but that is not where we should start," he said. "As it stands, about 50 percent of cancer diseases are an overlap from HIV. What it means is that the burden of cancer must be the burden of HIV.
"Since we already have Aids Levy, we should start by allocating resources from the Aids Levy toward cancer management. At the moment, cancer management is not getting anything from the levy despite the fact that most of the cancers are secondary to HIV."
Dr Ngwaru said there was no concrete evidence to support calls for a cancer levy.
"The challenge we have is that the mover of the motion (Ms Khupe) is talking from the position of a patient and not an advocate," he said. "It was out of emotional trauma that she went through. We would need a motion to come from an advocate who is able to look at both sides.
"Cancer has become one of the number one killers in terms of worldwide statistics ahead of other diseases like HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis, but in Africa communicable diseases are still killing more people."
Economic analyst Mr Eric Bloch said any additional tax would be disastrous for the economy.
"The levy is in principle very desirable, but the timing is absolutely unwise with the majority of people unemployed (not in formal employment)," said Mr Bloch.
"We already have a massive range of taxes. It will absolutely be bad for the economy in general and for the population as a whole because people can't afford already."
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions secretary general Mr Japhet Moyo said workers would not accept further taxes.
"We have already been paying other taxes, so they must streamline their expenditure to take care of the cancer challenge from what we have been paying already," he said.
"There are many diseases in this country like diabetes, so are we going to have a diabetes levy as well? How does one arrive at ranking cancer as the worst? The concept might be good, but Zimbabweans are hard pressed for now."
Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions secretary general Mr Bernard Danda said adding another tax on companies and employees would not augur well with the state of the economy.
"Zimbabwe is a highly taxed nation in the world and we are third after Ireland and Israel," he said. "Zimbabwean workers, besides being highly taxed, are earning far less than the Poverty Datum Line.
"Business cannot perform as long as workers have little disposable income. To tax them further or introduce another levy will be highly unacceptable. Those parliamentarians must be sensitive to the plight of workers."
According to the Cancer Registry, about 4 500 people were diagnosed with cancer in 2010 up from about 3 500 the previous year and 2 700 in 2008.
Legislators across the political divide in the National Assembly and the Senate endorsed the call for a levy that would go towards cancer management, but economists and workers said the move would be disastrous for the country.
MDC-T MP and former deputy Prime Minister Ms Thokozani Khupe introduced the motion in the Lower House recommending the introduction of a cancer levy.
Her MDC-T counterpart in the Upper House, Mrs Lilian Timveos moved another motion calling on Government to come up with a clear policy document on cancer in respect of awareness, counselling, screening, treatment and charges to be levied on cancer patients.
If Parliament adopts Ms Khupe's motion, Government can either adopt its principles or reject them.
Zimbabweans already pay 3,5 percent of their salaries towards the National Social Security Authority, while the employer contributes the other half.
They also pay other taxes including Pay As You Earn which is at least 20 percent of taxable income above US$250 (tax free threshhold), while Value Added Tax is at 15 percent, income tax is at least 25 percent, withholding tax for companies in the informal sector stands at 10 percent, Capital Gains Tax for profits accrued from the sale of immovable property is a flat five percent, while the Aids Levy stands at three percent.
Contributing to Ms Khupe's motion, Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Dr Paul Chimedza said his ministry was inclined toward introducing a National Health Insurance Fund that would cater for the global health care sector, including catering for cancer patients.
National Cancer Alliance of Zimbabwe executive director Dr Nelson Ngwaru said Ms Khupe jumped the gun by rushing to introduce the motion without consultations.
"We are in support of the cancer levy, but that is not where we should start," he said. "As it stands, about 50 percent of cancer diseases are an overlap from HIV. What it means is that the burden of cancer must be the burden of HIV.
"Since we already have Aids Levy, we should start by allocating resources from the Aids Levy toward cancer management. At the moment, cancer management is not getting anything from the levy despite the fact that most of the cancers are secondary to HIV."
Dr Ngwaru said there was no concrete evidence to support calls for a cancer levy.
"The challenge we have is that the mover of the motion (Ms Khupe) is talking from the position of a patient and not an advocate," he said. "It was out of emotional trauma that she went through. We would need a motion to come from an advocate who is able to look at both sides.
Economic analyst Mr Eric Bloch said any additional tax would be disastrous for the economy.
"The levy is in principle very desirable, but the timing is absolutely unwise with the majority of people unemployed (not in formal employment)," said Mr Bloch.
"We already have a massive range of taxes. It will absolutely be bad for the economy in general and for the population as a whole because people can't afford already."
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions secretary general Mr Japhet Moyo said workers would not accept further taxes.
"We have already been paying other taxes, so they must streamline their expenditure to take care of the cancer challenge from what we have been paying already," he said.
"There are many diseases in this country like diabetes, so are we going to have a diabetes levy as well? How does one arrive at ranking cancer as the worst? The concept might be good, but Zimbabweans are hard pressed for now."
Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions secretary general Mr Bernard Danda said adding another tax on companies and employees would not augur well with the state of the economy.
"Zimbabwe is a highly taxed nation in the world and we are third after Ireland and Israel," he said. "Zimbabwean workers, besides being highly taxed, are earning far less than the Poverty Datum Line.
"Business cannot perform as long as workers have little disposable income. To tax them further or introduce another levy will be highly unacceptable. Those parliamentarians must be sensitive to the plight of workers."
According to the Cancer Registry, about 4 500 people were diagnosed with cancer in 2010 up from about 3 500 the previous year and 2 700 in 2008.
Source - Herald
