Thu, 11 Oct 2012 10:24:33 +0000
Government has been losing a lot of revenue in the precious mineral production and marketing through under declaration of profits and smuggling, Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) has said.
CSPR Information Management and Communications Officer Diana Ngula said that unless the revenue policy of 2013 was addressed to ensure efficiency in collecting tax revenue, government must enact another separate law to govern base metals to allow government achieve proper tax revenue.
“Precious mineral production and marketing in the country has been losing a lot of revenue through under declaration of profits and smuggling. However this revenue policy of 2013 must address that, and ensure efficiency in collecting tax revenue.” She said.
Ms Ngula said the revenue policy of 2013 should concentrate on closing up all tax leakages especially in the mining sector by ensuring that the mining tax unit of the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) was empowered.
She said there was need for the enactment of another separate law to govern base metals if government was to achieve proper regulation of tax revenue.
“According to the final joint CSOs submission to the Ministry of Finance on tax and non-tax proposals for the 2013 national budget, CSOs also called for the mainstreaming of the precious minerals industry which is currently failing to maximize profits,” she said.
She said mining was one of the economic sectors that could expedite development in the country.
Ms Ngula explained that if the mining industry was appropriately regulated, export earnings and subsequent tax revenue generated could substantially contribute to economic growth.
She has called on government to strengthen its revenue policy and improve the taxation system to increase efficiency in tax collection.
