Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Chiefs seek exemption from personal taxes

Share

Senior Chief Nkomeshya, supporting the motion

THE House of Chiefs has recommended to Government to consider exempting traditional leaders from paying tax from their personal incomes.

The House said traditional leaders are senior citizens and should be given special privileges.

Moving the motion during the House’s sitting in Lusaka on Thursday, Chief Liteta of Central Province said he is concerned that traditional leaders have been subjected to paying tax when they are senior citizens who are contributing meaningfully to national development.

The chief said traditional leaders must be exempted from paying tax from their personal incomes.

“Traditional rulers play an important role in the development of any nation because they are the custodians of the law. Chiefs advise Governments on any issues concerning the welfare of people because politicians alone cannot manage without the support of traditional leaders.

“It is for this reason that they should be exempted from paying tax from their personal incomes to help them stand on their own,” he said.

Seconding the motion, Chief Simamba of Southern Province said traditional leaders play a unifying role besides helping to spearhead development in their chiefdoms.

He said the chiefs should, therefore, be given special privileges which will give them an opportunity to contribute effectively to overall economic development.

Supporting the motion, Chieftainess Nkhomeshya of Chongwe said Government should consider amending the current tax system and ensure that traditional leaders are exempted from paying tax from their personal incomes.

“The salaries of chiefs are low and when taxes are deducted from our salaries, we almost remain with nothing. We need to be exempted from paying tax to improve our welfare,” she said.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

15 COMMENTS

  1. Naivity at its best. Zambia has only 600 000 formal employees, and where do you think the revenue will come from to develop the country? Its tough for everyone, Just learn to pay TAX, then you will continue asking for accountability from politicians.

  2. With due respect I disagree with Chief Simamba that their role is to unify. I say so because chiefs lead people belonging to different political parties and their support for their prefered presidential candidates is divisive. So instead of unifying they are dividing thier subjects. Chiefs should not openly support their prefered candidate.

  3. This is a direct indication that some chiefs do not to understand income tax as a tool for national development. Chiefs should be educated to understand that even the pay they receive from the GOVT. comes from personal and coperate taxes. Therefore, for Chief to say that they should be exempted from payint tax is ignorance of the sources of Govt income.
    perhaps someone from Govt needs to sensitize our chiefs on the need for them to understand the importance of paying tax.

  4. Chiefs are not civil servants. Govt. should not even pay them in the first place. There is a lot of money being wasted on these people right now and hence there are a lot of succession problems in chiefdoms. These people think that they are very important – especially Chieftainess Nkomeshya who can even threaten to evict Mikango Barracks of the Zambia Army. How I wish it was the time of the old Generals – she would have been visited and given a lecture.

  5. ABOLISH THE HOUSE OF CHIEFS! They have got palaces to rule from, we don’t need them to be putting more pressure on the already financially constrained Zambians. They have forgotten about their subjects and they are only interested in  money. Money breeds corruption.A well wishing Chief should be talking about developmental issues in there areas and the well-being of his subjects , not their pockets. The dubious legacy of MMD Mps discussing there salaries and increasing them  abnormally in parliament, has now surfaced in the house of chiefs, where next? Well done Miyanda, for your bad precedence as vice-president 

  6. Chiefs got it all wrong. Its like these chaps have no manners. How do they ask tax exemption fro free cash? Infact the free cash they get should be heavily taxed because its actually free money and any one who gets free cash should pay tax so that we can continue giving these guys free cash in case they did not know. In some countries chiefs have no room as everything belongs to the central government and not chiefs. Take a look at Tanzania you do not have such parallel governing of land or something in those lines. So to begin with we just have to do away with this socalled house of chiefs. I end here!

  7. Crap!!! Who does not contribute to the development of the country? These Chiefs just sit in so called palaces doing nothing but just waiting for an allowance from Govt. What does the blind Chitimukulu do????? I would even praise a woman selling tomatoes by the roadside working had to improve her life and that of her family, than to praise the cadre Chiefs who do nothing: Chitimukulu, Mukuni, Mpezeni, and the other cadres!!!

  8. They must be grateful that tax payers take on the burden to pay them a salary for doing nothing. The early chiefs received no salaries for the same work the current chiefs are doing. What has changed? Someone should tell the chiefs that tax is paid on all earned income. If there incomes are low they should ask for a raise just like the miners are demanding

  9. This country has a culture of ‘each one fighting own corner’. Why not think about the people she presides over, do they have adequate clean water, good schools or enough medicines in those run down health centres? How many so-call chiefs are spread across Zambia, from Livingstone to Mweru-watipa, from Mwinilunga to Nakonde? Countless. And they all get tax exemptions? Yet expect their poor subjects to shoulder the burden alone? Rediculous! You are as annoying as your attire, particularly your hat.

  10. Try to understand the situation that chiefs find themselves in before you criticize. Chiefs are not allowed to have full time jobs like the rest of us. They cannot seek political office like the rest of us. They cannot run businesses full time because they won’t have the time. For their work, there is no going on leave, there is no knocking off. Subjects can even wake them them up in the middle of the night in times of emergencies. Chiefs’ retainers (“kapasos”) even get higher pay than the chiefs. Where does this leave them to earn income apart from the government subsidies they receive monthly? In the past, they were paid tribute by their subjects, and this was their main source of income. That has now been outlawed because of human rights.

  11. We need to abolish this house together with all tribal matters and local languages. Lets just be zambians under the republic. Its a new world. We have different kind of issues. 

  12. I agree with number 10. Don’t chiefs get royalties from revenue generated from their chiefdoms though? We need to look after our leaders, perhaps instead of asking for tax exemption, they chiefs should look at other ways of earning particularly from resources found within their chiefdoms. Chiefs should forms trusts so that the chiefs’ immediate family and their subjects can benefit equally. The welfare of chiefs need to be looked into. Some palaces, roads leading to so called palaces are in such terrible state. Something needs to be done. I am lead to believe that Chief Mukuni is doing well. Can’t other chiefs learn from his Kingdom?

Comments are closed.

Read more

Local News

Discover more from Lusaka Times-Zambia's Leading Online News Site - LusakaTimes.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading