John Panonetsa Mangudya
THE government has dismissed as “fake news” reports it was planning to impose a diaspora tax in a bid to raise much-needed foreign currency.
Social media was last week abuzz with claims that the government would soon announce a tax targeting the estimated million-plus Zimbabweans in the Diaspora.
The claim was however dismissed outright by Treasury.
“There is no diaspora tax,” finance minister Professor Mthuli Ncube told NewZimbabwe.com late Sunday.
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The minister is in London where he is expected to hold meetings with Zimbabweans based in the UK and attend an Africa summit before flying off to Bali, Indonesia for meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Diaspora tax claims were also dismissed by information ministry permanent secretary Nick Mangwana who said on Twitter;
“Having received many messages from good Zimbabwean people living in the Diaspora asking about some alleged ‘Diaspora Tax’, I spoke to my brother Perm Sec for the Finance Ministry Mr George Guvamatanga who confirmed that there is no such tax, and no thinking along those lines.”
Asked where the reports were coming from, Mangwana added; “… there is always someone out there keen on generating fake news, I guess.”
Zimbabwe has a huge diaspora spread across the world after many left the country to escape a biting economic and political crisis over the past two decades.
Most settled across the country’s borders in Botswana and South Africa while others went overseas to countries such as Australia, Britain, North America as well as New Zealand.-newzim
