Tax on employment income used to be guided by Income Tax Proclamation No. 173/1961. In the 1990s, this proclamation was amended with modifications to the legislation regulating income tax on employment: rural land and agricultural income tax; rental income tax; taxes on business and other profits; tax on income form mining activities; capital gains tax, and taxes on other sources of income such as chance wining (which carries a tax rate of 15 per cent), royalties (with a tax rate of 5 per cent) and tax on non-resident persons offering services in Ethiopia (which carries a tax rate of 10 per cent).

This reform resulted in a schedule for marginal tax rate which is currently being applied to income exceeding Birr 150, the assumed minimum wage rate. Compared to the marginal tax rate of 89 per cent during the military (Dergue) period; the current reform which reduced the maximum marginal tax rate to 35 per cent was quite radical. The 1978 income tax for rural land and agricultural activities was also amended in 1995 and 1997.

The current situation in Ethiopia will not any more reflect the above stated income levels, so I would like you to sign this petition if you feel the burden of employment income tax.