Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisatin Minister Joseph Mwanamvekha has expressed optimism on chances of reducing the tax burden by improving tax administration and widening the domestic revenue base.
Mwanamvekha said this in Blantyre on Monday during the launch of the Malawi Revenue Authority’s (MRA) Corporate Strategic Plan for 2026- 2031.
He said widening the tax base would ensure that more people contributed to government revenue, thereby reducing the tax burden on existing taxpayers.
“I know that many people are complaining that taxes are quite high, but if we have more people paying tax, I will guarantee you that the rest will come down,” Mwanamvekha said.
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He said increased domestic revenue mobilisation would also help Malawi finance its development priorities at a time donor support is declining.
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Mwanamvekha said the MRA strategic plan provided a pathway for modernising revenue collection through widening the tax base, improving efficiency, digitisation and using evidence-based research to inform tax policies.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative Fenella Frost said development partners remained committed to supporting Malawi to enhance domestic resource mobilisation.
Frost said domestic resource mobilisation was necessary to promote quality and equitable service delivery, which hinges on economic growth and sustainable financing.
“To be able to combat the multiple challenges which Malawi is facing and be able to expand public service provision to all Malawians, Malawi has to have sufficient resources.
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“We are ready to support tax administration. UNDP remains a key partner in the work of digital transformation, ” Frost said.
MRA Board Chairperson MacFussy Kawawa said the strategy focused on achieving sustainable revenue growth, digital transformation and building a capable and ethical workforce to improve service delivery.
“We want to be a more ethical organisation. We want to render ethical service delivery and we want to be accountable. We want to make sure that our institution has the right people to drive the strategy and the right systems that will accelerate the process of ensuring that we achieve the aspirations set in the strategy,” Kawawa said.
He said achieving the 20 percent tax-to-GDP ratio would require gradual but consistent progress in implementing the strategic objectives.
Under the plan, MRA aims to consistently exceed its revenue targets over the next five years, improve the collection of tax arrears from the current 89 percent to 100 percent and achieve 90 percent compliance with online tax filing.
The authority also plans to fully operationalise its in-house Integrated Tax Administration System by 2031.
