ENTREPRENEURS: SRA TAXING US TOO MUCH

MBABANE – Small and medium entrepreneurs need a tax holiday from government as the 27 per cent remitted to the Eswatini Revenue Authority (SRA) is too steep.

Chief Executive Officer of Eswatini Business Community Duduzile Nhlengetfwa was responding to the interaction of politicians and SRA last week. During the workshop, the Minister of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) said SRA was taxing the citizenry to the bone and by so doing driving away foreign direct investment while also destroying any prospects of local entrepreneurs succeeding in entrepreneurship.

Stifled

To this, Nhlengetfwa said entrepreneurs were being stifled by the corporate tax and pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) remitted to SRA on the first year of engaging in business. Nhlengetfwa said despite that most local entrepreneurs were SMEs and were breaking even in the first two years; they had to remit tax to government. This, she said, killed the business sector as there were no grants that were received by SMEs to cushion them while engaging in business. “This is as good as taxing the capital used to establish the business entity,” she said. Nhlengetfwa implored government to consider staggering the tax collected from entrepreneurs, more specially those in the infancy of their establishments.

Empowering

She said given the fiscal challenges that had engulfed the country, it would be prudent for government to consider empowering the business community through a tax-break of three to four years upon inception of a business entity. “Despite the tax-holiday, the corporate tax should be less than the 27 per cent paid by entities that have been in the corporate world for decades. It should grow with time,” she said. This, the entrepreneur and leader said, would empower SMEs to explore export-oriented opportunities for the growth of their business interests. Nhlengetfwa said the tax relief should be implemented in order to make the environment conducive for local entrepreneurs.

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