Govt collects half-a-billion from environmental levies
The government has collected over N$500 million from environmental levies between 2016 and 2021.
The environmental levy allows for a charged fee on imported products such as electric filament lamps, carbon dioxide emissions of specific vehicles, tyres, batteries and plastic bags under the amended Customs and Excise Act of 1998.
Equally, the levy is designed to generate revenue that can be reinvested in environmental protection as well as to reduce the impact of environmentally damaging consumption or production activities.
Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) manager for communications and stakeholder engagement Tonateni Shidhudhu said N$542 339 1670 was collected between July 2016 and June 2021.
He indicated that the government was able to collect the monies unchallenged as most of the manufacturers of these products are outside Namibia, and do comply with the environmental levy regulations as imposed on such products.
However, he noted that some local traders who produce plastic bags were not registered as manufacturers with NamRA, or previously the Ministry of Finance, to enable the levy on plastic bags to be accurately collected at source.
“We have carried out a verification audit to determine the value of plastic production locally, and the levy paid to the government.
There is a level of compliance, and we are confident that this levy is serving its intended purpose,” Shidhudhu added. The money collected from the environmental levies is handed over to the Environmental Investment Fund to finance the environmental expenditures of the Fifth National Development Plan (NDP5) implementation.