Zimbabwe Taxation Essay Example for Free

Zimbabwe Taxation Essay The tax system currently enforced in Zimbabwe under the authority of the Income tax Act Chap 23. 06 with Acts like the Capital Gains Act Chap 23. 01, Finance Act Chap 23. 04 and the Excise duties Act as complimentary. The system evolved from traditional ideologies perpetuated from pre pre-colonial era up to now. The incidence of tax from a traditional perspective occurred from as far as the Rozvi State who was allowed to maintain their power and control by the Portuguese Traders which resulted in the development of the tributary system. In which tribute was to be paid in form of farm produce, animal skins, fish and various goods. Every person under the protection of the kingdom and within the chief’s jurisdiction was to pay tribute from their occupational activity. This tributary system was mainly instigated by military control and any person revoking this tradition was punished. This traditional view is reflected in the modern tax system as there are some synonymous traits which have of course been duly developed over time. The presence of the British settlers saw the tax system being inclined towards politics and social classes or race in other words. In 1894 Hut Tax was introduced and was set at 10 shillings per hut and this tax was imposed on each adult male. The tax was paid to the British South Africa company which was the agent of the colonial government in the area even though it was initially authorised by the Colonial Office in London. Hut Tax was paid in the form of money, labour, grain or livestock and the colonial Authorities in this case the British were the beneficiaries. This tax benefited the white minority as they raised money, enhanced their economy’s liquidity (cash wise, thus supporting the currency), facilitating further development of the white minority. The whole purpose of a tax system to benefit the people at large through the services provided by the government was rather defeated as the greater proportion of tax was paid by the black majority for the benefit of the white minority. Poll tax was also another type of tax introduced by the colonial authorities again aimed at the male adult. It was set at 1 pound per male adult; 10 shilling tax on each excess wife was also introduced. Administering of tax policies was mainly set to compel the African to surrender his labour power to the settler economy so as to depend on them for the money with which they could meet their tax obligation. Initially Blacks owned the most cattle, sheep, had a bigger population thus consumed more meaning more sales tax was expected to be paid. Under the bid to frustrate black expectations of prospering and to reduce the chance of them gaining economic advantage over the whites a host of other taxes were recommended by the Southern Rhodesia Native Affairs Committee (these were later approved). The recommendations were made up of a plot to: * Introduce Dog tax * Implementing the taxation of all cattle * The continuation of poll tax * Progressive taxation of polygamous wives * A marriage fee of 5 pounds was to be set to be paid by the husband with an allowable remittance of 5 shillings for every month worked for a European Employer. (African Heritage,pg 65) At face value without any need for a comprehensive analysis it is quite evident that accumulating more of anything from cattle, increase in consumption, children and even another wife meant more tax due to be paid to the colonial authorities. Cattle tax was to be paid on the cattle owned by the people and dog tax likewise had to be paid for every dog kept. Penalties were applied through acts of confistication of cattle on most cases. The Southern Rhodesian Tax Ordinance of 1918 was not very different from the tax policies which were implemented in South Africa and the United Kingdom, though the income tax rates were not very high. Deductions were allowable for the contributions that were made to the pension funds and also generous primary abatements for dependants and as well as the secondary abatements for dependants. Insurance premiums and medical expenses were also allowed as a deduction The Pay as You Earn (P. A. Y. E) system of collecting Tax income was also adopted and it mainly operated with reference to an employed person. The definition of person in this regard mainly focuses on the natural person as it is the natural person and not the Juristic (for example Companies) that earn the employment income on which P. A. Y. E will be charged. Companies were also taxed in their own capacity and were required to pay a standard rate of 7s. 3d. n the ?. Special incentives for investment and exports were also given to benefit international trade and encourage investments in the companies established in the Zimbabwean Economy. Personal tax obligations were payable by individuals on a sliding scale ranging from  £2 per annum to  £12 per annum, this range was dependant on the income Death duties were relatively low by world standards, and were payable on a sliding scale rising to a maximum of 2s. 6d. in the pound currency, which is reached on a taxable amount of approximately  £42,000. Stamp duties were set on numerous documents recording transactions between persons and on services provided at various registries. These included a transfer duty at the rate of  £1 per cent, for the first  £4,000 of the value of property transferred and  £2 per cent, on the excess over  £4,000. Customs duties were imposed in a single column tariff on the bulk of the goods that were imported into Rhodesia. The customs duties covered protective duties for Rhodesian industries and revenue duties over a wide range of consumer goods. Almost all raw materials for industry had a 0 % duty (that is they were free of duty), as were the variety of capital goods. Excise duties were imposed on all wines, spirits, beer, cigarettes, manufactured tobacco, and motor spirit produced in Rhodesia. The consumption based sales tax, was mainly levied at the retail stage, and was the buying and selling actually occurred. The tax rate charged was 8d. Some goods were exempted from tax and thus immune to tax, these include basic food stuff, raw materials for production and capital goods for use by the industry Motor vehicle tax ranged from  £12 per annum for ordinary passenger vehicles to  £72 per annum for the heaviest public service vehicle with a charge of  £144 for diesel-powered vehicles. The Motor Vehicle tax could be paid in three instalments at the beginning of each licensing term of four months. Tax was also imposed on minor duties like trading activities, betting, and television and wireless receivers. The local government of the colonial authority attested that the tax will be confined to the field rates on the property. The accumulation of the tax payable by blacks on everything and every income that accrued to them led to an uprising (among other causative factors) resulting in the Chimurenga war which ended in 1980 the year in which Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. The tax system applied by the new regime and government was not very different from the one administered in the colonial era except that it was altered to shift the benefit to the black majority at large. Taxation cannot be divorced from economic conditions and indicators and to some extent politics. The post independence period was highly characterised with many developmental projects implemented by the Zimbabwean government through provision of social services, drought reliefs, subsidies for companies owned by the government. However this government expenditure engineered a budget deficit which had a negative impact on the tax as higher taxes were now required to meet the expenditures. Tax rates in the 1980s additions The tax system evolved gradually being influenced by economic conditions that occurred like the hyper inflationary era in 2007, 2008. The evolvement of Zimbabwe’s Tax system has seen the emergence of the Department of Taxes and the Department of Customs and Excise to form the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) in Jan 2001 but which started operating in September 2001. ZIMRA was established to enhance revenue collection and trade facilitation. (FORE 2006, pg 3) Currently, the Ministry of Finance is directly responsible for the fiscal management and thus have a direct impact on the tax system. In reference to the Constitution of Zimbabwe (Sec 102 and 201) all fees and other public revenues are paid to the Consolidated Reserve fund. The proceeds from this fund enable the government to meet its expenditure, provide services to the people. The legal framework, the administration of tax policies and the collection of taxes has been placed under the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) in the authority of the Commissioner General. The tax system under the provisions of the Income tax Act stipulates that tax is not levied on profits as in some countries but it is levied on taxable income. Zimbabwean Tax system use a source based approach in which tax is levied from income whose source is deemed to be from Zimbabwe. Not every income of every person is taxable; income from Local Authorities or institutions like POSB, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is exempt from tax this is according to sec14 of the Income Tax Act. Dividends from a company incorporated in Zimbabwe are also exempt from tax. The government has implemented reactive approaches towards taxation rather than a proactive one this is seen y the Fiscalisation of cash registers in order to reduce the losses in Value added tax (VAT) Collection as VAT is the major contributor of tax revenue mainly because it is consumption based, and orrowing from principles of micro economics it can be proven that people consume whether they have income or not from the marginal propensity to consume concept . The fiscalisation of cash registers can increase the amount VAT collected from businesses as the transactions incurred can be monitored through a memory card placed in the registers which are linked to the revenue authorities. The Value Added Tax Act [Chap 23. 11] is the main authority which governs the collection of VAT Tax bands are used on individual income in countries like South Africa, Zambia and Botswana. The use of tax bands makes PAYE a progressive tax which is redistributive. This leads to the reasoning that the proportion of tax revenue from PAYE should be higher than that from the non progressive taxes such as VAT and customs duty. In Zimbabwe tax is classified under proportional tax, progressive tax, regressive tax and direct tax. Individuals’ income from employment is taxed using tax bands, while income from trade or investment has been taxed at the same rate as that for corporate tax which was a flat rate 30% in 2009 and has gone down to 25% in 2010. The tax free band for income from employment was set at US$150 a month when the economy was dollarized in 2009 and was increased marginally to US$160 a month The advent of the Inclusive Government in 2009 in the post inflationary period where the tax and revenue base were dwindling resulted in the implementation of tax reforms to revive the tax system. This was difficult especially in the collection of corporate tax as most companies were operating below capacity. Corporate tax currently charged at 25% . Since tax is highly linked to development, tax incentive to foreign companies willing to invest in the country have been made so as to alleviate development. Tax concessions under special mining licences are also given, windfall gain tax is also charged in the mining sector. The holder’s of special mining rights are charged at a lower rate of 15% and are subject to Windfall Gain Tax which is levied on the additional profits. This profit is not attributable to production but occurs when the price of a certain commodity rises above a certain level (AFRODAD 2011, pg19). This tax charge is currently set at 31. 176%. The government once made an attempt to exempt ZIMPLATS from paying tax on additional profit tax but ZIMRA never implemented this action and still went on to collect tax from it. The Income Tax Act is revised and reformed from time to time this is the responsibility of the Tax Steering Committee which was set up soon after the Inclusive Government was established. This Committee comprises of the minister of Finance Mr. T Biti, some representatives from the private sector and ZIMRA itself. The committee aims to solve the challenge faced by tax authorities in Zimbabwe of trying to broaden tax base and at the same time simplify tax collection and easing the debt burden. The Final Deduction system is also a notable development of Zimbabwe’s tax system. It is a system in which the employer is required to deduct P.  A. Y. E from the employee’s income in a way that it becomes the final tax. The final deduction system (FDS) was implemented in 2000 but it was initially introduced in 1997/98 (AFRODAD 2011, pg 18). The directive governing the deduction of P. A. Y. E under the F. D. S system is taken from the 13th schedule of the Income Tax Act. There is then no need for the employees to submit tax returns at the end of the tax year.

Graduation Speech: We Are First Nations Peoples :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

I am honored to stand and speak to you this evening. I am very proud to be a part of the first graduating class for the Gaylord Heritage school. We thank the staff at the Heritage school, the Gaylord Tribes, our families and our community. I thought about what I would say for a long time and than I remembered what my grandparents taught me about life. My grandparents and family talked to me about education. My dad told me a story about an elder who was very proud of his new toolbox filled with tools. Every day his children would ask to use the tools in his box and he said: "No, not today, I am saving these for a special occasion." As his children grew older they continued to ask for the tools but again he said: "these tools were being saved for the right occasion." Finally the children gave up asking for the tools. One day many years later, the grandfather thought that it was time to open the box of tools and use them. As he opened the box, with children and now grandchildren looking on, he saw that the tools were rusty. He picked up the wrench but it crumbled in his hands. This story symbolizes to me a lesson: of how if we don't share our knowledge -our tools - and pass that knowledge on, then we have all lost the gift in our hearts. And the tools will rust and crumble in our own hands, never to see the light of day again. So let's share all of our tools and pass them on to the next generation so they can work on our house when we get old, and maybe even pay the rent. There are prophecies from many different tribes that speak of the seventh generation. This prophecy states "from the time of the coming of the non-natives, the seventh generation will be the ones that will see the big changes that are coming. This is the seventh generation coming up, and these are the people we must teach so that they do things right this time, so they will keep in mind what they will leave for the next seven generations that will follow them. This is how we are taught to live on this earth: we should look to how our decision and actions will affect the seventh generation to come. Graduation Speech: We Are First Nations Peoples :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address I am honored to stand and speak to you this evening. I am very proud to be a part of the first graduating class for the Gaylord Heritage school. We thank the staff at the Heritage school, the Gaylord Tribes, our families and our community. I thought about what I would say for a long time and than I remembered what my grandparents taught me about life. My grandparents and family talked to me about education. My dad told me a story about an elder who was very proud of his new toolbox filled with tools. Every day his children would ask to use the tools in his box and he said: "No, not today, I am saving these for a special occasion." As his children grew older they continued to ask for the tools but again he said: "these tools were being saved for the right occasion." Finally the children gave up asking for the tools. One day many years later, the grandfather thought that it was time to open the box of tools and use them. As he opened the box, with children and now grandchildren looking on, he saw that the tools were rusty. He picked up the wrench but it crumbled in his hands. This story symbolizes to me a lesson: of how if we don't share our knowledge -our tools - and pass that knowledge on, then we have all lost the gift in our hearts. And the tools will rust and crumble in our own hands, never to see the light of day again. So let's share all of our tools and pass them on to the next generation so they can work on our house when we get old, and maybe even pay the rent. There are prophecies from many different tribes that speak of the seventh generation. This prophecy states "from the time of the coming of the non-natives, the seventh generation will be the ones that will see the big changes that are coming. This is the seventh generation coming up, and these are the people we must teach so that they do things right this time, so they will keep in mind what they will leave for the next seven generations that will follow them. This is how we are taught to live on this earth: we should look to how our decision and actions will affect the seventh generation to come.

BrownGirl Brownstones

The prose fiction Brown girl, brownstones by Paula Marshall, is a bloodcurdling with autobiographical elements, tracking the life and experiences of the main protagonist, Salina Boyce and the family and friends in her life. Marshall uses various elements and techniques in the prose, to bring about different themes, characteristics and aspects in her novel. The text is set mainly in the sass's Brooklyn, New York, at a community of brownstone houses occupied by the Baja immigrants.Though there are various perspectives of other personae in the prose, Marshall uses a third person reiterative to show the first person perspective of Salina. The story begins with Salina at ten years old and continues until she is no longer a minor. It shows the theme of identity as Salina is trying to find who she is amongst members in her family. â€Å"But they have taken no photographs†¦ † Was one of the first time Saline's loneliness can be seen in the text. She is Jealous of the fact her par ents took photographs of the family before the death of her infant brother, yet took no keepsakes of hers.Then it goes on to where Marshall is a very descriptive narrator, using a cinematic effect in her story ailing. The scenes shift continuously to suggest simultaneous action which produces a dramatic effect that helps to build conflict and suspense. She also uses devices and diction to bring about various themes and symbolic elements in her text. She uses the technique of epigraph to start each chapter, it is a type of foreshadowing, hinting of what will happen throughout the chapter. It also helps to characterize individuals in the story.Contrast is also a reoccurring technique in the text, as characters such as Sills and Tighten, Nina and Salina, have contradictory personalities. There is also introduction in the symbols and diction in the text. Words such as ‘winter' and ‘Sun', ‘darkness' and ‘light', are contradictory symbols referring to the character istics of individuals such as Saline's parents in the text. The writer involves the use of the Baja dialect as well as English, as if trying to incorporate the reader in the culture of Barbados and also add credibility and realism to the story.It suggests pride in the Baja culture. The author uses various figurative devices in the text. There is a heavy focus on the use of personification and architectural imagery. Symbolism is evident n the prose; using colors such as red to represent romance and sexual relationships; and white, and brownstones to represent upward mobility, status and unattainable goals. Land in the text is also symbolic of independence and opportunity. The use of conflict, such as; mother-daughter, husband-wife, black-white, is brought out by the symbols and conflicting elements in the prose.It shows the destruction in relationships, and accentuates climatic moments, such as when Tighten, used the money Sills stole from him, or when Silent told the whole Baja asso ciation, she'd tricked them. Marshall uses devices such as; imagery, epigraph, motif, reasoning, pathetic fallacy and biblical allusion, to show racism, identity, women in society, family, deceit, and various other themes in the prose fiction. The denouement, begins with Silent recognizing who she is and making final decisions for herself.After all her trials and lost relationships, she finally covers her identity, accepting who she has become, the trials she is yet to face and the people in her past who has made her who she is today. Especially her mother, whom she had always fought against. Rational The life of Tighten Boyce, was the subject chosen for the poem between many view Tighten as a problem in the text Brown girl, brownstones, giving him no sympathy. The poem was intended to convey sympathy for Tighten.His life in the poem is specifically intriguing as though he causes many shifts in characteristics of others in the text, his own life is not emphasized. The poem will hope fully give an explanation of the circumstances surrounding the issues of Tighten death, and his life. Mocking Jay I saw a song bird fight a bird of prey, Beautiful-ugly, he was, filled with sorrow, was she. Night and day, He sang a tune of love and wonder, She sang back of vices and plunder, I tried to save that mocking Jay, But the night stole him away.Where are you my mocking Jay? Trapped in the tomb of brown stones? Your young are calling, where are you? Won't you fight the snow away? Don't you hear the light's moans? Has she trapped him too? No longer perched on your window sills They've clipped your wings You've destroyed their prison The flock screams their Baja banter Fly away home my mocking Jay Swim home my song bird But, mocking Jay's never dive†¦ I'll send a new light your way†¦ For you to see through winter's clock†¦ To save your flock†¦ To blind your eyes†¦And save you from the dark†¦ Shattered tunes of my broken song bird Remember your pra yers Eulogy. The sad broken memory. The life you ran away. Dead like marrow staining the asphalt. Staining corals a sea away. Songs long dead, I'll sing them to you. I'll pray your tarnished soul away. Tighten, my mocking Jay. Analysis The poem â€Å"mocking Jay†, is a kind of stanza elegy, in tribute to a character in the prose text â€Å"Brown girl, Brownstones†. The poet uses the mimicking bird, mocking Jay, to represent the character Tighten in the prose text.Not only do mocking Jays have a gift in music, which was one of the professional genres Tighten attempted, but hey repeat everything sung to them in a mocking manner. Tighten, like these birds, reflects a mocking version of the negatives surround him; from using the money his wife stole from him, to purchase frivolous gifts to spite her; to changing his course of study every time he is confronted with racism or barriers. Tighten also has the dream like (surreal), and fun loving attributes common to these birds .The poem comprises of four sestets, a couplet a single line and a septet. The stanza formation, is quite symbolic. The first stanza is the first of the four sestets. At the end of each sentence in this sestets is a comma. This represents the fact that this relatively pleasant chapter in his life is not yet complete, it won't end in a ‘happy ever after'. It is as if to say that the beginning of their relationship was an unfinished dream. The second sestets ends in a question within, as if questioning the relationship, not understanding the change in the relationship and in Sills.The third sestets ends without punctuation is representative to all the times Tighten and the audience were waiting to see Sill's response to sightings behavior. The final sestets concludes with â€Å"structured-chaotic† punctuation, of when Sill's revenge unfolds it was chaotic n the circumstances of deportation, but structured in that it was her plan all along. Combining with the lack of punct uation, the couplet of stanza five signifies his never ending pain. It symbolizes that, as the lack of punctuation prevents the sentence from truly being complete, his pain and suffering will not end even in the afterlife.The single line consists of one word â€Å"Eulogy†, this refers to the speech given at a funeral or a recollection of the past doings of an individual after he is dead. This word being the shortest stanza, represents the lack of quality and memorabilia Tighten has left behind with his children. The final stanza a sestets can be tied to the biblical representation of the day God rested. The number seven represents the change that occurs after an accomplished cycle. Tighten, accomplices all he could so the last stanza represents his death the final rest he accomplished after his life cycle.The poem has a steady rhythms. Though not all stanzas have a structured rhyme scheme, the poem still flows as if it does. It is like the steady yet unusual flow of life, Jus t as the poem is a depiction of Digestion's life as was represented in the rose fiction. The first stanza contains a set of rhyming couplets, repeating the first rhyme in the last stanza (an â€Å"a, a b, b a, a† format). The last rhyme however is a forced rhyme, this is there to show that leaving the omnipresence was not something the Jay wanted, but was what was forced on him.The second stanza consists of alternate rhymes that emphasize the questioning in this stanza, that he is running alternate scenarios in his mind as to why the wife who used to love him hates him so much now. The fourth sestets has the last rhyme, â€Å"clock† and â€Å"flock†. This symbolizes hat the time he has left with his children is limited as his death is nearing. The rest of the poem is rhyming going parallel to the pores fiction as explanations are revealed in the story, the confusion and rhyming stops.The poem commences with the omnipresent narrator giving a visual imagery of the meeting between two contradicting birds. The â€Å"song bird† represents something happy, passive and peaceful, while â€Å"bird of prey† represents something sly, dominating and warlike. The story continues with oxymoron inverted syntaxes of line two, that helps to emphasize that the creatures have contradicting personae and that their union could ever last as it was based on confusion. Just as in the prose fiction, Sills thought she could turn Tighten into someone he wasn't, and failed.The diction used in the first stanza such as; â€Å"vices†, â€Å"Jay† and â€Å"Night†, aid in displaying the theme of conflict in relationships. ‘Vic's' is the Latin word for change, in reference to the context it highlights Sill's need to change her husband's persona and fight to create a life for them that he never wanted. The capitalization dif words such as Jay and Night, personify these nonhuman objects, in the case of the Jay it helps to emphasize th is Ewing a character trait of Tighten, while the Night highlights Sill's character as bright cold and heartless, but at that time seeming beautiful and peaceful.Lines three and four of the first stanza also help to concretion the theme of contradictory persons in relationships, displayed in the first stanza. Stanza two is a rhetorical question sestets, it constantly asks questions the Jay' is obviously unable to answer, and these are symbolic of the time where the relationship between Sills and Tighten was confusing. He didn't know where she stood, whether still in love with IM or hating h for the injustice she believes he did to their son, the first line emphasizes this.It follows with a reference to the brownstone house Sills spent a majority of the text fighting to obtain. The use of diction such as â€Å"prison†, â€Å"brown†, and â€Å"stones† was a slight pun as a Jay would find a house made of stones a prison, and Juxtaposed with the text, it can be said that Tighten saw the house his wife fought so much for was like a prison to him, and a symbol of his failures in his relationships and providing for his family. Line two is the first and only mention of their children in the poem.This is symbolic as it shows that not only did Tighten not spend enough time with them and focused more on himself, but he also failed as a father in that he couldn't protect them from the â€Å"snow† which is a personified symbolism of his wife. The personification of the ‘light', at the end of the stanza references all the happiness and innocence still in the family. When the persona asks about the moaning light that ‘she' has trapped it means that he was unable to prevent the happiness and life from leaving their family, this aids in uncovering the themes of failing one's family and loosing things that are important.The third stanza has the most textual allusions, the stanza opens with a pun, â€Å"window sills†. As a bird a sil l is somewhere you can rest, be at peace like a home, in this means Tighten no longer feels at home in the browns stones. Sills is also the name of his wife so it can mean that he is also no longer feeling happy in his marriage, as shown in the text queen he began going you the house form his mistress in the nights. â€Å"They've clipped your wings† line two of the stanza refers to when he almost got his arm amputated due to his indolence.This is symbolic as it is a physical representative ND slight foreshadowing of how his time was ending. The next line refers to the song they sang to him at the wedding. The ‘f†, ‘s', ‘the' and ‘b' fricative and plosive so funds of the fourth line in the third stanza, emphasizes the running and the drama happening in that scene of the text. The ‘swim home' in the last line of that stanza references the Caribbean since Islands in the Caribbean are surrounded by water. The last sestets refers to the last act ions before Digestion's death.It starts with a pun, on Digestion's childhood, as he dived for the coins white men through at him, and also an allusion to him diving to his death. The ‘new light' is symbolic for Digestion's religious period, where the movement of the new light helped him to finally discover himself, though completely swiping his personality. Winter's clock' is symbolic for Digestion's attempts at going back in time to rectify the problems mainly caused by his relationship with his wife.The couplet, single line and septet, is after his death. People have pained cries due to morning Digestion's death. The mansion of Prayers refer to his newfound beliefs and Eulogy is the speech given at a funeral. The final stanza is technically the omnipresence's eulogy for Tighten, though it shows that he s not someone people will remember with respect. It speaks of how he could have had a life if he'd made different choices. It gives an image of his death at sea, and its conne ction to his past in the Caribbean.It then shows the general sadness surrounding his death, and accentuates the theme of death in the text. The poem changes from a tone of observation, to unease, to sadness. Hopefully bringing out an overall sympathy for the persona. Though it is not a total rhyming poem, it still has a flowing rhythms that showcases the life cycle of Tighten, as shown in the text. Conclusion The text Brown girl, brownstones, is an excellent depiction of women and men in immigrant communities.Most persons generally sympathize with the women of these communities, however this poem has hopefully garnered a positive response to men in these communities, and those shown in the text. This may help persons to recognize that women were not the only ones with problems in the text. The blame for these conflicts also, should not be solely the fault of males like Tighten, in the prose, but equally shared between each individual, and characters in the prose fiction.

Loras College GPA, SAT Scores and ACT Scores