By ALICE NACHILEMBE
The Zambia Tax platform says Zambia’s continued run on deficit financing has resulted in the accumulation of public debt.
Zambia Tax Platform Coordinator Ibrahim Kamara said these shortfalls in revenues to meet government’s expenditure needs are caused by many factors.
He said low tax base that may result from the inability of an economy to generate adequate revenues from its own activities is one of them.
Mr Kamara said an issue of non-compliance by entities who may either engage in tax is common in developing countries.
He said one key area around taxation that suffers compliance challenges is the taxation on sales and value added tax.
Mr Kamara said that matters of compliance on taxation require periodic checks to ensure enforcement.
He said Businesses and firms still indulge in VAT evasion to they advantage but there are still large sales that take place in medium and small businesses which have not been given much attention.
Mr Kamara said that the platform believe the implementation of Electronic Fiscal Devices provided a great mile stone in curbing tax evasion and noncompliance on VAT and other levies.
He said to enhance revenue performance there is need to address the persisting challenges to gradually achieve voluntary and self-compliance.
Mr Kamara said the Electronic Fiscal Devices alone will not succeed in eliminating the challenges of compliance there is need to strengthen the law around its implantation.
“Compliance improvement should not sorely rely on improving technology but must come from a thorough and well planned strategy that identifies the unique problems affecting it and developing solutions to address them,” he said.
