By BUUMBA CHIMBULU
THE mining industry is confident that attaining three million tonnes of copper production per annum by 2031 is feasible, banking on the recently announced tax policy which will boost the industry by stimulating investment.
Tax experts have therefore described the 2022 national budget as a good tax plan which has shifted revenue collection to direct taxes. The industry is off to a good start, says Zambia Chamber of Mines (ZCM) president, Godwin Beene, at the PWC post budget discussion in Lusaka yesterday. “This is feasible from perhaps three perspectives.
What must be done is to build a pipe line of projects for exploration, this country has resources which was disadvantaged by a fiscal tax regime “So as long as we enable people in exploration to stay, that three million tonne is very small.
There is no way that Government would mention that figure if he was not confident that it can happen. So I believe that it can be done,” Dr Beene said. He stated that the taxation policy in the 2022 national budget would encourage investments in the exploration industry which would drive attainment of three million a tonne of copper production.
“We are addressing growth in the mining industry so that means we are off to a good start. The thorny issue here which was impeding investment in the mining industry was double taxation. “It was a major thing and enough to keep investors off from Zambia for explorations and real investments in existing environment,” Dr Beene said.
Some measures in the 2022 national budget are reintroduction of the deductibility of mineral royalty for corporate income tax assessment purposes and reducing the standard Corporate Income Tax rate to 30 percent from 35 percent. At the same function, PWC Zambia Tax Director, George Chitwa, said the 2022 was a good tax budget.
“The budget is quite packed with activities around taxes, so it is a very good tax budget for a tax advisor like me,” Mr Chitwa said. And Mutisunge Zulu, Economist and Financial Analyst, stressed that Government had granted most of the tax requests from the mining sector.
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