Скачать или смотреть Is Namibia becoming a Tax Haven?ㅣPart 2

In December 2017, Namibia together with 17 countries were allegedly blacklisted by the European Union as they were regarded as tax havens due to weak regulations on tax governance. One such tax policy which was eventually repealed by the government was the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) Act and tax incentives for manufacturers.

Although the EU denied that Namibia was blacklisted, eventually the country was removed from the list after extensive closed door negotiations between the finance ministry and the EU. It was believed that the EPZ policy was mostly to blame for the blacklisting because it mainly benefitted the extractive industry and was causing the country to lose out on tax revenue.

Author and labor expert, Herbert Jauch says Namibia's tax to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio is less than 20%, which is considered to be quite low for the country by global standards. The tax-to-GDP ratio measures how much a nation collects in taxes in relation to its gross domestic product (GDP). This ratio is used to measure how effectively a nation's leadership manages its financial resources.

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the highest share of tax revenues in Namibia in 2019 was contributed by personal income tax (40%). The second-highest share of tax revenues in 2019 was derived from value added taxes (VAT) (32%).

The tax-to-GDP ratio in Namibia increased by 0.8 percentage points from 19.4% in 2018 to 20.2% in 2019. The highest tax-to-GDP ratio in Namibia was 21.5% in 2011 and 2015, with the lowest being 16.2% in 2006.

Jauch added that Namibia has the ability to raise more money through taxes and that the government should look at new strategies for widening the tax base, such as including people with high incomes who are exempted from paying taxes.

According to the OECD, in 2019 Namibia's non-tax revenues amounted to 12.7% of the GDP. This was lower than the average non-tax revenues for the 30 African countries (6.3% of GDP). Miscellaneous and unidentified revenue represented the largest share of non-tax revenues in Namibia in 2019, amounting to 10.5% of GDP and 83.0% of non-tax revenues. The majority of the Miscellaneous and unidentified revenue category comes from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) revenue-sharing agreement.

Although Namibia is classified as an upper-middle income country, socio-economic inequalities inherited from the past apartheid system remain extremely high and structural constraints to growth have hampered job creation.

Jauch added that citizens should be certain that their taxes are being used wisely and are not subject to corruption or excessive spending. He also advocated for a wealth and income redistributive agenda that would help the poor and those who had previously suffered from being excluded from development.

Herbert Jauch carries out economic and labor market research at the Economic and Social Justice Trust in Namibia. Additionally, he is a member of the Basic Income Grant Coalition, an organization that has campaigned for Namibia’s government to implement a Basic Income Grant for all.