— Action Aid calls for tax review in the mining sector

An international civil organization Action Aid has advised the government to review the country’s tax system in the mining sector.

Action Aid Economic Justice Project Officer, Kryticouf Nshindano says government should make sure that it generates more income from the mines through tax collection because copper and other minerals are non-renewable resources.

Mr. Nshindano says  it is  now very clear Zambia is not benefiting from its mines as expected.

ZANIS reports that Mr. Nshindano  said this in a telephone interview in Lusaka, today.

He also observed that the country is not generating the maximum income from the mining industry because there is no value addition in the mining sector.

Furthermore,  Action Aid Economic Justice Project Officer said that government should make sure that Zambia Revenue Authority and other related institutions have the full capacity to monitor the operations of the mines if it is to curb tax evasion by some multinational cooperations.

Mr. Nshindano also pointed out that the windfall tax may be one way of helping the country to collect enough tax from the mines.

He however said that if government was to introduce the windfall tax, its application should be uniform so as not to segregate other mines as they do not produce the same amount of copper.

Mr. Nshindano further said that as the Ministry of Finance Prepares its budget presentation, they should make sure that they maximize revenue from the mines through the minimizing of tax evasion by the mining Multinational Companies.

He also said that government should also make sure that it prioritizes its activities if it is to reduce on unplanned expenditure which is costly to the nation and its citizenry who are the tax payers.

Earlier this year there was some reports that a named mining company had been falsifying its income to evade paying tax.

It has also been cited that Zambia has been losing billions of Kwacha through tax evasion, financial flaws, corruption and other corporate frauds by some multinational mining cooperation.