Maravi

Heed advice on windfall tax - Sichinga

Heed advice on windfall tax - Sichinga
By Joseph Mwenda
Wed 24 Nov. 2010, 04:01 CAT

Robert Sichinga has urged finance minister Situmbeko Musokot-wane to heed advice from US Ambassador to Zambia, Mark Stor-ella, to take advantage of the high copper prices and adjust mining taxes.

In an interview yesterday, Sichinga - who is a business consultant - said Zambia could afford to justify the reintroduction of windfall tax in the mining sector because copper prices have continued to rise.

He said the mines were now making more profit out of the high copper prices, and so Zambia should partake in that. He said this should not be postponed because the ability of the companies to pay that tax may not be there when the prices go down.

Sichinga said it was illogical for the ministry of finance to allow the mine investors to reap maximum revenue out of the sector at the expense of the Zambian citizens.

“The argument is that why should Zambia not participate in the super profits they are making, why should it just be left for the investors?” he asked.

Sichinga said it was ironical that the mining sector contributed less than one per cent to the gross national revenue collections when Zambia depended on copper as its main export.

He wondered why Musokotwane did not want to heed the advice from cooperating partners.

“It’s not only the American envoy that has talked about it, remember the World Bank has talked about it and the IMF has talked about it too. What wisdom does Mr Situmbeko Musokotwane have over all these people? Some of us who have worked on the mines we know what happens. We are saying to them that at US $8,500 per tonne of copper, Zambia must participate in that revenue,” said Sichinga.

Labels: ROBERT SICHINGA, SITUMBEKO MUSOKOTWANE, WINDFALL TAX

posted by MrK @ 7:00 PM