Chronicle Editor
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Sports Reporter
AARON Chinhara has backed calls for Government to offer tax rebates for companies that sponsor sport.
Chinhara, whose Glow Petroleum brand last Friday unveiled a $11 million annual sponsorship package for netball, said systems must first be put in place to curb possible abuse by unscrupulous corporates for the rebates to serve their purpose.
He said the tax rebate system was a stick and carrot method that would also motivate companies to fund sporting activities.
“It is an incentive that will see more companies sponsoring sport. I want to believe it’s a better way of doing things as long as there will be no abuses. I am a believer of good governance and I am not saying the status quo we have now is wrong but we don’t want people to call for tax rebates so that they abuse the whole system,” said Chinhara on the sidelines of the Rainbow Amateur Netball League end of year awards at a Harare hotel.
He said rewarding companies that spend money on developing sport was a noble idea.
“We however want a tight system that cannot be abused to beneft undeserving companies that might cheat Zimra,” he said.
In 2015 the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Sport, Education and Arts called for the introduction of tax incentives to entice the corporate world to sponsor sport.
“The companies involved in sport must be given tax incentives so that they continue supporting the development of the sport. There must be a reduction in local authority levies as the 20% levies charged by local authorities is affecting the livelihood of football clubs and is therefore not sustainable for most clubs. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development must lower or even remove import duty on sports uniforms and other sports equipment,” the committee recommended.
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