Opinion – Is Namibia’s VAT system keeping pace with modern service economy?
One conversation has come up repeatedly during my work with Namibian small businesses over the past year. Business owners tell me: “We are busier than ever, but there is less money in the bank.” For many, this feeling begins after reaching the compulsory VAT registration threshold. Crossing that threshold should be a milestone. It reflects... The post Opinion – Is Namibia’s VAT system keeping pace with modern service economy? appeared first on New Era .
One conversation has come up repeatedly during my work with Namibian small businesses over the past year. Business owners tell me: “We are busier than ever, but there is less money in the bank.”
For many, this feeling begins after reaching the compulsory VAT registration threshold. Crossing that threshold should be a milestone. It reflects growth, new clients, and a business that has reached a new level of maturity. Registering for VAT is a legal requirement, and rightly so.
Yet many service-based SMEs report a different reality once they become VAT registered. This is not an argument against VAT. Every country requires tax revenue to fund public services, and Namibia’s VAT system plays an important role in that process.
The more pertinent question is whether today’s knowledge-based economy experiences VAT in the same way as the economy for which many tax systems were originally designed.
