The Cashless Economy in Zimbabwe: The Golden Time to Tax the Informal Sector

Abstract

In this paper we sought to analyse the possibilities of raising revenue from the informal sector in the cashless/ plastic money era in Zimbabwe. The study employed literature review method.  The evidence suggests that the informal sector play an important role in the Zimbabwean economy such as creating jobs, poverty eradication and also as a test bed from which willing taxpayers can graduate into mainstream however their contribution to the national tax revenue is insignificant despite Government efforts. We established that it is possible to increase tax compliance in this cashless era and formalise the informal sector activities.  The study recommends that Zimbabwe Revenue Authority must follow the proposed outlined phases to accomplish the goal of increasing revenue from the informal sector.

Keywords: Informal sector, Tax, Cashless Economy, Zimbabwe