Maravi

(LUSAKATIMES) Mines unions want mineral royalties hiked

Mines unions want mineral royalties hiked
Tuesday, October 13, 2009, 18:03

The National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW) has supported calls by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for government to increase the mineral royalties and corporate taxes in order to increase its revenue.

Commenting on IMF’s calls that government should increased mineral royalties and corporate taxes to enhance the country’s revenue, NUMAW president Mundia Sikufele said the current mineral taxes collections were not sufficient enough for country to benefit from.

Mr. Sikufele told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today that there was need for the government to quickly revise taxes in order for the people in the mining sector to have an opportunity to benefit from the country’s mineral resources.

He noted that since most of Zambian citizens were in the informal sector, there was need to increase mineral royalties for government to have more revenue.

He explained that by increasing the mineral royalties, people in the mining sector will also be given a chance to contribute to the economic growth of the country through paying other taxes.

Meanwhile the Private Sector Development Association (PSDA) has advised government to treat mineral taxes like any other business taxes in the country.

PSDA Chairperson, Yusuf Dodia, said in a separate interview that government should consider keeping the mine taxes constant at all times if it is to expand its revenue collection base.

Mr. Dodia said there no need for government to change the taxes whenever copper prices fluctuate on the international market.

He said government should ensure that taxes were maintained in a concession manner and not to make them exorbitant.

He pointed out that the reason why government has failed to make meaningful gains from the mine taxes was due to lack of having permanent corporate mineral taxes for the mining sector.

Mr. Dodia further challenged investors in the mining sector to take advantage of rising copper prices on the international market and make significant contributions to the development of the sector and the country as a whole.

ZANIS

Labels: IMF, MINING, MUNDIA SIFUKELE, NUMAW, PSDA, WINDFALL TAX, YUSUF DODIA

posted by MrK @ 3:32 AM