|
Budget gets cold welcome
2007-06-16 09:20:53
By Austin Beyadi
The just unveiled 2007/08 budget has been criticized as not pro-poor and derailing the country’s determination to halve poverty by 2025.
A policy analyst from Policy Forum Budget Working Group, Moses Kulaba, said: `The 2007/8 fiscal year may yet be another year of unfulfilled promises and lost hopes for the poor.
Increased taxes on all drinks and the fuel levy will definitely affect the disadvantaged,` he added.
This year`s budget, he said, was burdensome as people in the low income category were already affected by the high cost of living, coupled with skyrocketing prices of food stuffs.
`Nobody can celebrate this budget,` he said.
Deloitte Tanzania Chairman Simon Mponji said the hiked vehicle registration fee and high fuel taxes would increase the cost of driving personal cars.
`It seems the government is trying to reduce road congestion and traffic jams, thus pave way for the coming Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit (DART) project,` he said.
The DART project, scheduled to start operations this year, is a strategic initiative adopted to reduce traffic congestion and improve public transport system in Dar es Salaam.
Dr. Peter Kopoka from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) said the 2007/08 budget could hardly assist the country to take-off towards sustainable development and economic growth.
`It does not empower people economically. It’s not pro-poor as it does not give relief to the women and men. Reduction of tax on employees will benefit the working class only,` he said.
Dr Kopoka said agriculture, which employs almost 85 per cent of the country`s population, was not given priority.
`I had thought that the government would allocate more funding to improve farming methods and quality of seeds.
Common sense tells that the larger percentage of the budget goes to middle class in the urban cities rather than to the rural people.`
Ziada Mbogo, a resident of Kigogo, said: `If you hike fuel tax, you are automatically telling the daladala owners to increase bus fares. Where shall the common people go? ` she asked.
Kabyoma Gerase of the University of Dar es Salaam said the budget had disappointed many ordinary people who had high expectations of the fourth-phase government.
`It is the low-income earners who will feel the pinch,` he said.
|
