FORMER Industry Minister and 2018 presidential aspirant Nkosana Moyo says he will impose land tax and further trim cabinet to 16 ministers if he became president.
Speaking in a wide ranging-discussion with dozens of Harare youths at Moto Republik Friday, the politician also said he will never accept donations from anyone to prop up his presidential campaign or print any t-shirts to boost his visibility.
Asked to reveal his policy on land, Moyo said land was being allowed to lie idle by its beneficiaries as he prescribed taxation to ensure those owning it would start giving it commercial value.
“My view is that land has to be taxed so that those who have got access to land cannot afford to sit on it unproductively,” he said.
The Alliance for the People’s Agenda (APA) front man denied his action shall increase the tax burden on locals.
“The total tax system would be reviewed and would not be additional to what is already there,” Moyo said.
“The total package of how you structure your taxes has to be reviewed but my personal view is that we have to make it impossible for people to sit on land unproductively and speculatively.
“Therefore, if land is not productive, you should not afford to keep it; that’s why tax on land is important.”
Moyo said his envisaged government will introduce title on land so that farmers could afford loans from financial institutions.
Turning to cabinet, he said the country’s 70-plus ministers were an unnecessary burden to the cash-strapped government adding that his cabinet shall comprise only 16.
“I would shrink the size of government,” he said, “I would shrink it to a point where the cabinet is not bigger than 20 people.
“In fact, we have done the numbers, I come up with 16. I am saying 20 because I am giving myself a bit of headroom in case I have ignored certain things.”
Moyo said he would replace of deputy ministers with young junior ministers among the country’s youths so they can be involved in the country’s decision making processes.
He said as the majority, youths could not continue to be left out of the government system.
The presidential hopeful insisted that he was better placed than the rest to become President because of his international escapades.
“My exposure to the global economic system means that I am much more likely to be believed by the international community in terms of my position on how this country could be run than any of the other contenders,” he said.
“I have worked out of London as an investor. I have been on the boards of companies in as far afield as Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa.
“I know the continent and I am able to take the position of an investor. I know what investors look for because I have been one.
“I have been a banker. In a country that I run, you are not going to sleep on the pavement looking for your own money, that is completely unacceptable and it will not be.” – Newzim