adminTHE smuggling of second-hand clothes from Mozambique into the country is a border control issue that has been going on for decades.
Daily, bales of used clothes get into the country through undesignated routes along the porous border that is difficult to effectively control and monitor. Although several operations have been carried by the police and the Zimbabwe National Army to curb such leakages into the country, die hard smugglers are bleeding the economy with impunity.
Unofficial reports indicate that millions of dollars are lost through smuggling as the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority is not receipting anything from the smuggled clothes that are awash on flea markets dotted around Mutare and other towns and cities.
This has resulted in a sharp increase in the trade of second-hand clothes that are sold for affordable prices.
As informal traders smile all the way to the bank, established clothing shops that are paying Value Added Tax and other statutory obligations are sinking, rendering many jobless.
Yes, a lot of people are now being employed in the informal sector selling the smuggled second-hand clothes at flea market tables, but in terms of corporate governance the country is on the losing side because nothing is going into Government coffers.
Inasmuch as this has created employment at a time when most industries have closed shop, those who collect revenue must ensure that a certain amount must be paid to the national fiscus by second-hand informal traders that are making brisk business on a daily basis.
This calls for Zimra to adapt to the new business dispensation and come up with taxation legislation that does not harm the emerging informal sector but encourages the new business players to pay something to Government.
We applaud the Mutare City Council for accommodating the second-hand clothes vendors during the weekends in the Central Business District where they are allowed to sell their wares on pavements.
The $1 per table the council is getting from these vendors will cumulatively amount to millions of dollars that the local authority collects.
We are sure this money will dovetail into improved service delivery.
In like fashion, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority must climb down and meet the informal traders who must pay something to Government.
The tax collector must come up with a taxation model that must be easily understood by the ordinary vendors who are doing business on the streets.
If Zimra chooses to ignore these people, the country will continue to lose more revenue.
For the record, millions of dollars are exchanging hands in the informal sector and ignoring that sector is disastrous.
Those who collect council table charges move from one table to the other receipting and why can’t our tax collector do the same?
The country cannot fail to get anything from clothes that are smuggled through the porous border and again fail to get anything from the smuggled products that are openly being sold on the streets.
We are sure council has a data base of all active vendors that are operating in the city and since Zimra and the local authority share notes on most occasions, the tax collector can take cue from the Civic Centre and ensure that Governments collects something from the sale of the smuggled second-hand clothes.
The logic here is that if smugglers outwit border control those who buy the second-hand clothes must pay something to minimise revenue lost when the items illegally entered into the country.
Online Reporter