GOVT SLAPS HEAVY TAXES ON ALCOHOL, BETTING, AND INVESTMENTS IN SHOCK REVENUE RAID!
……….Hangovers, heartbreaks, and high-interest rates incoming
The Zambian government has rolled out a new set of taxes targeting alcohol, betting, cigarettes, sugary drinks, and investment income all in a bold (or brutal) attempt to raise K3.9 billion for its K33.6 billion supplementary budget. Because clearly, when you’re broke, the best place to start is by taxing people’s vices and their soda.
Finance Minister Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane delivered the bombshell to Parliament with the calmness of a man who doesn’t bet, doesn’t drink, and definitely doesn’t sip sugary drinks. The tax changes are part of Supplementary Estimates No. 1 of 2025, designed to settle fuel arrears, pay off debts, and somehow still fix education all at the same time. Ambitious? Yes. Painful? Definitely.
Top of the hit list is your favorite bottle of whisky or wine. Excise duty is going from 60% to a jaw-clenching 80%. Meanwhile, clear alcohol, once enjoying a sweet tax holiday, is now being slapped with a 50% tax. That toast at your cousin’s kitchen party just got downgraded to Chibuku. And even that might not be safe next budget.
Cigarettes are getting smoked too, tax-wise shooting from K452 to K750 per 1,000 sticks. Tobacco companies are already warning about a boom in smuggling and knock-off brands. Don’t be surprised if your next pack reads “Malboto” instead of Marlboro.
Even soft drinks didn’t escape the axe. Excise duty on sugary and non-alcoholic beverages has doubled from K1 to K2 per litre. So now, sipping that Mosi or Fanta at your local bar might require a small loan—plus interest.
The betting industry, that sweet escape for many unemployed youths, is now facing a 10% excise duty on services. Experts predict that local bettors will simply shift to offshore websites and crypto gambling, where ZRA can’t follow not yet, anyway.
Meanwhile, the withholding tax on interest from government securities is being bumped from 15% to 20%. Translation: Government wants you to lend it money, but now it’ll thank you with a smaller cut. Investors are already considering other options like stuffing cash under mattresses or investing in goats.
Analysts are nervously clutching their spreadsheets, warning that these mid-year hikes may scare off both investors and common sense. Some fear the kwacha might catch a cold from all this fiscal drama, especially if bond auctions start flopping like expired chicken.
Business leaders, while trying not to scream into their balance sheets, are calling for more dialogue. Many feel these tax moves hit the productive sectors too hard while the black market continues to operate like it’s immune to laws or math.
Formal alcohol sellers are warning that the only thing these taxes will boost is the illegal liquor business, where alcohol is brewed in bathtubs and labeled “premium.” And while public health groups are applauding the move as a win against harmful consumption, even they admit that without enforcement, it’s like putting a plaster on a broken leg.
The government insists this is all necessary. Fuel arrears (K11 billion), debt repayments (K8.5 billion), and farming inputs (K6 billion) must be handled, or else the economy will spiral faster than a drunk uncle at a wedding.
As Parliament debates these proposals, business owners are pleading for logic, consistency, and perhaps a cup of untaxed coffee. One businessman was overheard saying, “If they tax the air we breathe next, I’m moving to Mars.”
Stay tuned. Or better yet, invest in a bicycle. It’s not taxed. Yet.
©️ Kumwesu — July 2, 2025