By ALICE NACHILEMBE
The Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) says that Government’s long term objective of formalizing the Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) sector can come to fruition if it addresses the fiscal challenge of mining taxation.
CTPD Senior Researcher Webby Banda said in a factual discourse, high taxation tends to reverse the formalization process.
Mr Banda said this is because informal miners will shy away from stepping into the formalization space in fear of the hard-earned production being taxed away.
He said the core principle should be centered on casting the net wide and not deep. This means instituting a taxregime that has a low AETR to induce formalization so that the tax base can be widened and government can collect more taxes.
“The Centre wishes to urge the government to craft a sector-specific taxation regime for ASM that culminates into a low AETR. This should be done to achieve two primary objectives: Induce growth of the sector through a plough back resources approach by ASM operators; and Increase tax revenue collection through formalization.
