Thu, 21 Sep 2017 11:00:34 +0000
By Aaron Chiyanzo
TAX amnesty is imperative for Zambia at the moment because no country can grow its economy on the basis of what it was owed by individuals or firms, says Minister of Finance Felix Mutati.
Mr Mutati said that in as much as government would lose out on some money it was owed through taxes because of the ongoing amnesty, no country could grow its economy on the basis of what it was owed.
He explained that a country could be owed a huge debt but that unless it was translated into liquidity, then the growth would not be achieved.
Mr Mutati pointed out that government had introduced the tax amnesty to translate the debt into liquidity.
He said during the launch of a public dissemination of the recently published Economic Stabilisation and Growth Programme in Lusaka that government had also brought about the tax amnesty because it was keen to giving small businesses a chance to survive and be able to grow.
Mr Mutati emphasised that the performance of the amnesty so far had been overwhelming and that the budgeted revenue would be achieved by the end of the year.
“We introduced the tax amnesty because no country can grow its economy on the basis of what it are owed.
We also want to give small businesses a chance to survive and be able to grow. Government has introduced the tax amnesty in order to translate the debt into liquidity,” he said.
Mr Mutati said that there would be a reduction of what government had borrowed for the first six months of the year because targeted deficit would be met.
Meanwhile, Mr Mutati said the dismantling of arrears owed to contractors and suppliers had boosted the collection of tax revenue through Value Added Tax.
He said the dismantling of arrears had also boosted the capacity of contractors and suppliers to survive and grow their business.
Mr Mutati reiterated that booth government and the contractors were winners in the equation of arrear dismantling, as the government also boosted its tax revenue.
