Enhancing Tax Revenue Collection in Zambia: Promoting Sustainable Development And Eradicating Poverty
Abstract
This policy brief presents evidence on the Zambian tax system. Its core argument is that we need a radical overhaul of the tax system in order to increase domestic revenue to spend on measures to reduce poverty. In Annex A details of the main taxes in Zambia are presented. Below the policy brief is divided into four sections: the first sets out the problem, the second says why it matters, the third argues that more debt is not the answer and the final section presents JCTR’s proposed responses.
Description
In Zambia one of the biggest economic challenges is raising sufficient revenue from domestic taxation. Zambia’s Finance Minister Hon. Alexander Chikwanda recently argued that: “...Despite Zambia being endowed with vast mineral resources, the country has not realised maximum benefits from the sector’s potential to support growth and enhanced socio economic development. In spite of the various changes in tax policies in the last 10 years with a view to optimize benefits from the mines have not yielded the desired results.” Therefore, there is need for Zambia to collect more tax revenue to finance national development