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Message: [QUOTE="Munyaradzi Mafaro, post: 74459, member: 636"] ZCTU secretary general Tirivanhu Marimo torched the 2026 National Budget for ignoring workers who are getting hammered by rising costs and stagnant pay. The government kept the income tax-free threshold frozen while bumping VAT to 15.5%, slapping a 15% withholding tax on digital services from offshore platforms, and cranking betting tax from 3% to 20%. Finance minister Mthuli Ncube cut IMTT on ZiG transactions to 1.5%, but Marimo said the VAT hike cancels out any relief. The budget skipped unemployment benefits even though most people work in the informal sector, and pensioners keep getting tiny payouts that inflation destroys. Marimo blasted the cash withdrawal fees for pushing people away from banks and back to hiding money at home, which wrecks trust in the financial system. [/QUOTE]