By ALICE NACHILEMBE
Golden Party of Zambia says water tax on fish farmers retrogressive will kill the sector and increase poverty levels amongst the poor.
GPZ President Jackson Silavwe said it is shocking that amidst a ravaging corona virus pandemic which has inflicted economic hardships on businesses and households compounded by people losing employment and high taxes, the government through WARMA can start demanding almost K3,000 worth of tax from fish farmers annually.
Mr Silavwe said such policies will only put foreigners with excess capital at an advantage and Zambia will keep importing fish from China regardless of many water bodies.
He said the people are already struggling to pay boreholes and (or) stream water taxes.
Mr Silavwe says adding this one is simply disqualifying them systematically from participating in this sector which can contribute to bringing down the high poverty levels in our country.
He says the Government must know that the people engaged in this sector do not make profits to such amounts in six to seven months of keeping the fish.
Secondly, It takes alot of time to recover startup costs while preparing for the next circle of fish-farming.
“Therefore, such an amount (K2950.00) to be paid annually is like adding petrol to an already burning house. Our people cannot be expected to graduate from poverty to sustainability with such retrogressive policies that are outrightly working against them.
If our people are to ever prosper, the environment must be made conducive for businesses as it would bring about job and wealth creation for them,” he said.
