Maravi

Milupi criticises tax regime

Milupi criticises tax regime
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Tue 22 Mar. 2011, 04:01 CAT

CHARLES Milupi says responsible governments are ensuring that their people benefit from current record metal prices while the MMD continues to sacrifice Zambians in preference to foreigners. And Milupi said Zambia would have collected US $700 million (about K3.2 trillion) in windfall taxes alone in view of the current high copper output and record prices.

Milupi, the president for Alliance for Democracy and Development, was commenting on South Africa’s plans to overhaul its mineral royalty regime to cash in on high commodity prices, and the Africa’s biggest economy may use Australia’s resources tax as a template.

Australia will, beginning next year, start levying mining firms 30 per cent on resource profits.

Milupi said owing to the cyclic nature of commodity prices, most countries were currently implementing reforms to ensure they maximised on the current copper boom.

“What is clear is that countries like South Africa are moving to ensure their people benefit from the resources within their borders, and that is the ruling party ANC Africa National Congress,” Milupi said in an interview.

“But here you have a government that is running a foreign investment policy that favours foreigners at the expense of its own people.”

Milupi said Zambians should realise that the current suffering they were experiencing was as a result of the current regime that favoured foreign investors at the expense of the country’s needs.

“Every Zambian should know that they are being squeezed and their lives are being made harder and that is why they are paying pay as you earn PAYE at as high as 25 per cent going upwards because the MMD government does not want to collect revenues from foreign corporations that are supposed to be contributing to widening the tax base of this country,” Milupi said.

He also accused finance minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane of having lied when he said the Australian government had backtracked on its imposition of a 40 per cent tax on resource profits from 2012 to raise about US $11.1 billion.

Milupi said to the contrary, Australia only reduced the bracket to 30 per cent after a huge backlash from top tier mining firms like BHP and Rio Tinto.

He said the current low taxation of the mining sector is the agenda of only President Rupiah Banda, Dr Musokotwane and mines minister Maxwell Mwale, which lacks “legitimate support” of most key officials of MMD.

And Milupi said the country has continued to lose huge amounts of revenues from the mining sector owing to the abolishment of the windfall tax.

“The K20.5 trillion national budget for this year is just about US $4 billion which is too little for the needs of this country,” said Milupi.

“Had this MMD government maintained the windfall tax which it brought to Parliament, this year alone the country would have collected US $700 million which is a lot of money.”

Labels: CHARLES MILUPI, CORRUPTION, MMD, TAX EVASION

posted by MrK @ 6:08 PM