Govt to review VAT on clean cooking appliances

THE Ministry of Finance has pledged to continue implementing reforms on Value Added Tax (VAT) for clean cooking appliances
Assistant Commissioner, Policy Department at the Ministry of Finance (2nd from right), Dr Remidius Ruhinduka speaks during the energy stakeholders' discussion organized by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) through the CookFund initiative in Dar es Salaam.

DAR ES SALAAM: THE Ministry of Finance has pledged to continue implementing reforms on Value Added Tax (VAT) for clean cooking appliances in order to promote the clean cooking agenda by making the products more affordable.

Additionally, the ministry has tasked stakeholders in the clean cooking energy sector to developing a viable proposal on how to reform taxes on clean cooking appliances.

However, the ministry is scheduled to conduct, the zonal tax dialogue in next few months to allow stakeholders to air their views on tax issues in the country.

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This was said by Assistant Commissioner for Policy Analysis, Ministry of Finance, Dr Remidius Ruhinduka during a policy dialogue on clean cooking held yesterday in Dar es Salaam.

The dialogue themed ‘Tax Impact on Acceleration of National Clean Cooking Strategy’ was oraginised by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).

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The Ministry of Finance is open and keen to adopt any reforms that are beneficial to our country. Clean cooking is a national agenda and it is our role to ensure this is realised,” Dr Ruhinduka emphasised.

He also highlighted the importance of concerted efforts between stakeholders and the government to achieve the government’s ambitions on clean cooking energy.

“This kind of dialogue is very positive for attaining government ambitions as it involves various stakeholders,” he stressed.

On May 8th this year, President Samia launched the National Clean Cooking Energy Strategy in Dar es Salaam.

The ten-year National Strategy provides a roadmap with the goal of having 80 per cent of the population use clean cooking energy by 2034.

He also noted that the government has made several efforts to promote this agenda, including removing VAT on materials used to produce gas cylinders in the country.

“We have scrapped the VAT on all Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders entering the country to ensure that we bring relief to those products,” he underlined.

UNCDF Senior Investment Officer, Abraham Byamungu, said that they organised the dialogue specifically to support the government’s efforts in achieving the 10-year national strategy for using clean energy in homes and institutions.

“We are pleased to see that the government is ready to receive our proposals, but it has asked us to provide an assessment to demonstrate the benefits that will be obtained if the taxes are removed,” he said.

Energy Portfolio Manager European Union (EU) Delegation to Tanzania, Massimiliano Pedretti emphasised the significance of using clean cooking energy to protect people’s health and the entire environment.

“Even though initial cost to purchase clean cooking energy appliances is quite expensive but its use is very cheap compared to charcoal in daily recipes,” he pointed out.