…Dingani Banda, Zambia’s taxman expounds challenges in collecting tax, but confident at meeting targets as evasions, loopholes are being sealed
By MUKWIMA CHILALA
ZAMBIA is literary bleeding as a result of tax evasion, particularly in the area of Value Added Tax (VAT) because of ,among other reasons, high levels of noncompliance and ineficiency in revenue collection, which has never gone beyond 20 percentby, the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has said.
[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”4,5,6″ ihc_mb_template=”2″ ]
Dingani Banda, the ZRA Commissioner General says while the authority had targeted to collect K125 billion next year, the challenge of inefficiency in the collection of tax had been the main obstacle but pledged that Zambia was on course in addressing fundamental structural challenges in the tax administration.
Speaking after the meeting held at his office, Mr Banda expressed concern that the Value Added Tax has been ZRA’s weakest link and as such will work with the media in addressing the loopholes associated with it.
“We are in a debt crisis and we have to service the debt which means we have to collect as much from domestic revenue. We are expected to collect K125 billiion next year but the fundamentals are shifting on the ground. The major problem is the high levels of noncompliance. Noncompliance levels are very high…the country is literary bleeding in terms of noncompliance,” Mr Banda said.
He said with the challenges in the mining sector where copper production had plummeted, revenue collection on behalf of government had been largely affected.
Mr Banda says ZAR shall endeavour to work with the media in addressing the fundamental structural challenges in tax administration which were hampering to meet some of its targets.
“We never cross the 20 percent because of efficiency limitations. Some of our friends in the region collect much higher. Our tax collection in relation to our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is low. Rwanda is collecting about 35 percent of its VAT while Chile and Pery are around 44 to 50 percent,” Mr Banda said.
He said Zambia was however working at expanding its VAT collection and that as a country it was important to concentrate on VAT because once that was higher, it would give a breather on other taxes.
“When VAT moves to a higher level, we can easily secure government revenue and we can turn round the country’s economy,” Mr Banda said. Mr Banda disclosed that Zambia had about 600 000 rented properties but that the levels of compliance among landlords was frustrating. Zambia’s taxman said he understood the challenges media houses were going through but could not spare them because they were the only one he could easily ‘catch.’
Mr Banda said the ZRA would work with the media in addressing the fundamental structural challenges in Tax administration as there the information gap with the public regarding tax issues is too huge.
He says the ZRAwas working on an important project called smart Invoice which will only be known by the public through collaborations with the media who play a critical role in disseminating information.
And Media Owners Association of Zambia (MOAZ) president Costa Mwansa has expressed commitment towards having positive engagements with ZRA through championing tax payer education on initiatives such as smart Invoicing where the Commission was seeking to have Zambia benchmarked against other developed countries by 2030.
Mr Mwansa’s entourage was comprised of Kwitu Fm CEO Mukamba Mwenda, Millennium Radio Managing Director Patricia Chibiliti and Rose Sibisi CEO of Maluba TV who are all part of the MOAZ executive.
[/ihc-hide-content]
