Budget time has come and gone again. In my estimation, this budget must have been a very difficult one to prepare and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning is to be applauded I think for their efforts.

Once again we are able to state that although we have to deal with some fairly far- reaching changes to the value added tax (VAT) and Income Tax regimes in Botswana, the changes are not radical.

This is certainly important for taxpayer.

In South Africa the tax laws change all the time. Taxpayers have to contend with issues that are foisted upon them by the authorities that take time out of their business schedules. Compliance with the myriad of laws in South Africa (and other jurisdictions are as bad if not worse) is extremely difficult.

I think that is why the informal sector is so large in South Africa. The people who operate in the informal sector simply could not be bothered to deal with all the compliance laws, so they shy away from them, keeping to cash and cigarette-box accounting.

There were basically four major changes in the VAT and Income Tax regimes that were proposed by Minister of Finance and Development Planning Kenneth Matmbo. These are: