JCTR disappointed by Mineral Royalty Tax change

The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) has described the directive by President Edgar Lungu for changes to be effected to the 2015 mineral royalty tax as disappointing.

JCTR Director Fr. Leonard Chiti says the reason the tax regime was changed was to address the many challenges the country is facing such as transfer pricing, tax evasion and many others and in turn help the country get a fair share from its mineral wealth.

Fr. Chiti adds that the idea of changing the mineral royalty tax was to make the tax management system beneficial to the country.

Leonard Chiti

He states that now that the President has reversed the decision, it will be very difficult to deal with the challenges in the mining sector.

Fr Chiti says the presidential directive gives the impression that government has the interest of the mining houses at heart and not that of the people of Zambia.

Fr. Chiti has advised government to critically think through the decisions they are taking and consider how they are going to benefit the Zambian people, stressing that Zambians deserve to benefit from their mineral resources.