Exit Kamoto, enter Tom Malata at Malawi Revenue Authroity: Correction

Commissioner General of  Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) Ralph Kamoto has been replaced by Tom Malata,formerly Chief Executive for Premium TAMA Tobacco Limited and not Steward Malata as earlier reported. [caption id="attachment_93925" align="alignright" width="215"] Stewart Malata: Not the one but Tom Malata[/caption] [caption id="attachment_93926" align="alignright" width="270"] Kamoto: Redeployed[/caption] Kamoto has been deployed to Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) as its boss. Nyasa Times regret the error of Steward Malata instead of Tom Malata. Malatacomes to the tax collecting body at a time when it has come under fire for introducing tax incentives that do not benefit small and medium enterprises (SMEs). During an interactive meeting with SMEs in Blantyre few weeks after President Peter Mutharika assented to the new Customs and Excise Act (measures) on July 27 2015, about two months after the Act came into effect on the midnight of May 22 2015, MRA deputy commissioner for technical and domestic taxes Rainnie Vokhiwa said the tax collector has introduced a number of tax incentives to stimulate the growth of businesses and the economy as a whole. He singled out the reduction of excise duty from 110 percent to 80 percent on passenger-carrying vehicles under tariff heading 87.03 exceeding 12 years of age with cylinder capacity (CC) exceeding 3 000. Vokhiwa also said government had reduced excise duty from 55 percent to 40 percent on passenger-carrying vehicles under tariff heading 87.03, which are between zero and eight years old with CC exceeding 3 000. But SMEs complained that incentives MRA introduced are not intended to cushion lives of low-income earners and SMEs, but big entrepreneurs.