Dodia tells off mines

Private Sector Development Association (PSDA) chairperson Yusuf Dodia has reiterated that it is high time Mining companies paid taxes like all other companies in Zambia and ensure that their export earnings are ploughed back into the country’s economy.

In an interview with Qfm News, Mr. Dodia has also observed that much as the decision by Government through the Zambia Revenue Authority to withhold about US$600 million VAT refunds has impacted on the morale of the Mines, what is important is for the Mines to abide by the provisions of the VAT rule 18.

Mr. Dodia says this therefore means that it is necessary for government to pay VAT refunds to the Mines, but that government should do so by putting in place a payment plan that does not plunge the country into unsustainable debts.

Mr Dodia says it is for this reason that his association has always favored the revoked Bank of Zambia (BoZ) Statutory Instrument (SI) 55 as one of means the Zambian government could have ably serviced its domestic debt.

He says had the SI 55 remained in place, all export earnings from the Mines and other exporters would have remained in Zambia to allow the growth of the country’s domestic economy and thereby facilitate increased tax collections for the government.

Mr. Dodia notes that it would have been with these taxes collected from the country’s domestic economy that government could have been able to pay its domestic debts and other repayments such the VAT refunds to the Mines and other exporters.