By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA? –

MINING tax reforms should have a holistic approach and address long term issues of environmental degradation and conform to international best practices, the Economic Association of Zambia (EAZ) has said.
International best practice suggests that a sound mining tax regime ought to be stable over time, while also flexible to economic and financial conditions.
EAZ president Isaac Ngoma said it was important that the mining tax approach was holistic and put into consideration issues of environmental degradation and pollution.
Mr Ngoma said the current mining tax structure needed significant reform to make it live up to international standards.
Mr Ngoma said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the tax structures for other sectors had issues but were easy to deal with compared to the complexity of the mining sector, hence the need to reform the tax system.
“The mining sector is a big challenge globally and what we are looking at now is not just about taxation; we are also looking at the externality that arises from mining as a business undertaking,” Mr Ngoma said.
“We are focusing on climate change issues. It is very important that the tax approach is holistic and takes into consideration issues of environmental degradation because in a time when mining activities come to an end, you are left with some environmental hazards that you have to deal with as a country,” he said.
He said the taxation system should be holistic and have a long term view.?“I wish to mention that in a given scenario, it would help that mining is transformed as a whole where we also get a lot more participation by the locals so that there is wealth sharing as the World Bank is now propagating the issue of shared prosperity,” Mr Ngoma said.
He said it was good for mining companies to start floating some of the shares on the local stock exchange so that Zambians could participate.
This would give a sense of ownership and participation in wealth that was created from the mining sector because the gains that were generated were three-fold.
“You can look at the issues of taxation, investment in the communities and participation that encourages shared prosperity,” Mr Ngoma said.