BUDGET 2008 | Tuesday, 16 October 2007

Income tax revision to leave further Lm12m in pockets

For the second year running government has revised the income tax bands to leave a further Lm12 million in people’s pockets with the net beneficiaries being lower to middle income earners.
The revisions announced yesterday extend the non-taxable portion as well as the subsequent bands with the higher tax rate of 35% being reached at Lm8,157 for persons going for a separate computation and Lm12,000 for those going for a joint computation.
This means an annual saving of Lm114 for somebody earning Lm7,000 taxed at single rate and an annual saving of Lm59 for somebody earning Lm7,000 taxed at married rate.
The extension of the lower 15% band and the higher 35% band are incentives for people to work more.
Over a two year period government has released Lm24 million from income tax, which however was repaid by higher receipts from economic growth that has gone above three per cent.