By CATHERINE NYIRENDA and  MIRIAM ZIMBA –
THE Non-Governmental Organisations Coordinating Council (NGOCC) has appealed to the Government to introduce production-based mineral royalty taxes that correspond with what the mining companies are making out of the minerals in Zambia.
NGOCC had submitted that the only way Zambians, especially the poor, would benefit from its minerals was by introducing production-based mineral royalty taxes.
NGOCC executive director Engwase Mwale said in a statement yesterday that the organisation had observed that the current mine tax obligations were far below the expected contributions to the economy to substantially contribute to economic growth and job creation.
“A mineral royalty is a better way of taxing the mines, this will result in increased Government revenue for poverty reduction programmes, investment and national development,” reads the submission in part.
The NGOCC also urged the Government to intensify and broaden the collection of withholding tax by coming up with effective measures to ensure that service providers paid the taxes in full.
She cited the collection of rental tax on high-value properties as one example of broadening withholding tax.
In this regard, the process of operationalising the Integrated Land Management System needed adequate capacitating and resources in order to enable the Ministry of Lands to capture all land owners.
The organisation observed that there was a marked increase of property being rented out yet not all tax was remitted to ZRA.
The NGOCC has proposed an increment in the tax-free threshold from K3,000 to K4,000 to cushion the high cost as the food basket for a family of six.
And the Civil Society for Scaling Up Nutrition (CSO-SUN), has expressed fear that the budget may not entirely address the immediate economic challenges the country is facing if it would not give attention to matters relating to nutrition.
CSO-SUN executive director William Chilufya said in a statement yesterday that Zambia was currently grappling with a double burden of malnutrition.
Mr Chilufya appealed to Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda to ensure that he drew people’s attention to the importance of good nutrition through the Budget speech.
“A simple statement by the Ministry of Finance on nutrition during the annual Budget speech will help keep it on the table as an issue of national importance demanding the required attention and response to it by respective line ministries in the execution of the Budget for the financial year,” he said.