Mining Expert Edward Simukonda says it is unusual for the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) to target establishing a tax collection unit for small and medium scale mines next year in order to address low tax compliance.
Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Simukonda said if there are people in the mining industry that need a tax holiday, it is the small and medium miners in Zambia as they do not make a lot of money.
The Zambia Revenue Authority had earlier announced that it targets to establish a tax collection unit for small and medium scale mines next year in order to address the issue of low tax compliance.
Simukonda said it is saddening that ZRA has such a target when the small and medium enterprise miners do not make a lot of money, as it is too expensive to make meaningful productions from their operations.
He said ZRA should understand what is involved in mining and the operations of small-scale miners and not just look at the collection of money from the small-scale miners.
“I don’t see ZRA retaining enough money from the small scale and medium miners unless they change the system. But this can only be achievable if the small and medium miners are given an opportunity to produce and then government can tax them from what they are producing”, he said.
Simukonda added that, “ZRA should make the policy of collecting taxes from the small and medium miners favourable so that they are able to work in the free space and be able to produce in the sense that they will tax them after selling because government will know how much they are making when they are selling”.
ZRA Commissioner General Dingani Banda said only about 171 small, medium and artisanal mines declared mineral royalties last year despite the country having over 2400 mines registered for tax.
