Ethiopia: Undelivered Promises Erode Governmental Credibility
OPINION It was yet another sad twist in the exercise of executive power that brought about the most recent directive, supposedly to correct the wrong doings of a previous directive on "Dividend Income Tax". This is after it had already inflicted grievous harm, not only to the law-abiding taxpaying business community, but also to the credibility of the country's legal framework - and of the country's highest executive authority, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, in particular. According to a report that appeared in the business and economy section of one of Addis Abeba's Amharic newspapers, I read that the Ministry of Finance & Economic Development (MoFED) had issued a new directive requiring enterprises to pay dividend income tax on undistributed profits(retained earnings) that have been kept for 12 months or more. It was stated that only "profits" reinvested and shown with all the proof and evidence laid down by the directive as paid up capi