Associated British Foods has been accused of Zambia tax avoidance after sending massive profits abroad. One of Britain’s biggest multinationals, whose brands include Silver Spoon sugar, Twinings Tea and Kingsmill bread, is avoiding paying millions of pounds of tax in Zambia a country blighted by malnutrition, a year-long investigation revealed on Sunday.
The Zambian sugar-producing subsidiary of Associated British Foods, a FTSE100 company, contributed virtually no corporation tax to the state’s exchequer between 2007 and 2012, and none at all for two of those years.
The firm, Zambia Sugar, has recently posted record pre-tax profits and its huge plantation is increasing its capacity to produce more sugar for markets in Europe and Africa. Yet it paid less than 0.5% of its $123m pre-tax profits in corporation tax between 2007 and 2012.
The company benefits from generous capital allowance and tax-relief schemes in Zambia, but the investigation also found that it funnels around a third of its pre-tax profits to sister companies in tax havens, including Ireland, Mauritius and the Netherlands. Tax treaties between Zambia and some of those countries mean the state’s revenue authorities are unable to charge their normal tax on money leaving their shores.
[pullquote]Zambia Sugar admits it has paid “virtually nothing in corporation tax” in recent years[/pullquote]
The revelations are contained in a report published by ActionAid, which exposes how Zambia Sugar has kept its contribution to the state’s exchequer so low, although the company says that globally it actually pays a higher rate of tax on its profits than it otherwise would due to its corporate structure.
It is estimated that the tax haven transactions of this one British headquartered multinational deprived Zambia of a sum 14 times larger than the UK aid provided to the country to combat hunger and food insecurity.
ActionAid’s findings will heap more pressure on the chancellor, George Osborne, to make progress in closing gaps in international tax standards and tackling avoidance at the G20 meeting of world leaders this week and the G8 in June.
The total loss to tax avoidance by multinationals in the developing world is estimated to be around £70bn a year, enough to save the lives of 85,000 children under the age of five in the world’s poorest countries every 12 months, campaigners say.
The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, who will visit Africa this week, said on Thursday that tackling those “gaming the system, seeking to play us all for fools” will be a priority for the UK government when it chairs the G8.
But Ivan Lewis MP, the shadow international development secretary, said rhetoric needed to be matched by action. “ActionAid’s report underlines the urgent need for David Cameron and George Osborne to match their tough talk on tax avoidance with meaningful action.”
[pullquote]
The total loss to tax avoidance by multinationals in the developing world is estimated to be around £70bn a year, enough to save the lives of 85,000 children under the age of five in the world’s poorest countries every 12 months
[/pullquote]Sir Malcolm Bruce, chair of the cross-party Commons select committee on international development, said: “I would like to think Associated British Foods’ board will now say, ‘Are we really being fair to the Zambians?'”
Lord Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrat peer and a former economist for the Kenyan ministry of finance, said: “We must start by changing the law here, so big businesses like ABF must show the tax they actually pay in each country where they operate, and explain fully in each case why it is so far below the headline corporation or profits tax rate.”
Zambia Sugar admits it has paid “virtually nothing in corporation tax” in recent years due to capital allowances and reliefs granted to it by the Zambian tax authorities to finance its expansion, including one obtained by taking the Zambian government to court.
ActionAid’s report reveals, however, the existence of an additional array of transactions that reduce Zambia Sugar’s taxable profits in the African state, while the structure of others avoids Zambian taxes that are ordinarily levied on foreign payments.
The report focuses, in particular, on annual $2.6m payments to an Irish sister company whose accounts have repeatedly stated that it has no employees. Associated British Foods says this is an accounting error, but even the latest accounts filed on the 28 January, after the firm was presented with ActionAid’s findings, repeat the allegedly erroneous statement.
[pullquote]It is estimated that the tax haven transactions have deprived Zambia of a sum 14 times larger than the UK aid provided to the country to combat hunger and food insecurity.[/pullquote]
Chris Jordan, a tax specialist at ActionAid and co-author of the report, said: “This is a really shocking case where the Associated British Foods group has gone to great lengths to ensure it pays virtually no corporation tax in a very poor country. Tax avoidance is not victimless financial engineering. In Zambia 45% of children are malnourished and two-thirds of the population live on less than $2 a day.”
A spokesman for ABF’s subsidiary company, Illovo, the immediate owner of Zambia Sugar, said: “We deny emphatically that Illovo is engaged in anything illegal, immoral or in any way designed to reduce the tax rightly payable to the Zambian government. We are proud of Zambia Sugar and the major contribution it makes to the Zambian economy.
“Since 2008 Illovo has invested £150m to double the production capacity in Zambia and so create the largest sugar mill in Africa. This mill and related activities provide employment for more than 5,000 people. Capital allowances on this investment have resulted in no corporate tax being payable since the investment was made.
“The availability of these allowances, used by governments all over the world, has nothing to do with tax avoidance. African governments should be as free as any other to attract investors.
“Payments made by Zambia Sugar for the services of third-party contractors, expatriate personnel in Zambia and export services provided by Illovo, are made at cost … there’s no artificial reduction in profit in Zambia Sugar.
“These payments are made to overseas companies, largely for historical reasons, and are not driven by tax considerations. ActionAid could not be more mistaken.”
[Source:Guardian.co.uk]
link:http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/feb/09/british-sugar-giant-tax-scandal
This is a wake up call for Zambia.
Not only this … wildlife, copper and now sugar comes to light.. Investors are not there to develop your country just plundering it and leave it once nothing important to get from there..
That’s why i laugh when Mushota lists all those qualifications. She is supposed to be an expert in this field of Tax ,but alas you only see Him/her when it’s Football time. This Company uses Transfer Pricing to avoid paying tax and its legal.
Let it sink into our skulls that the so called investors will never develop our country. They are there for themselves and not us. We have to take it upon ourselves to do the best and move forward.
Look at the huge inflow of the Chinese people most of them can hardly say a world in English. What are they here for?
Lets ask ourselves what we want for our country.
It time we changed the laws to benefit ourselves too. If not our country will continue to wallow in perpetual underdevelopment and poverty.
The choice is exclusively ours.
Let it sink into our skulls that the so called investors will never develop our country. We have to take it upon ourselves to do the best and move forward.
Look at the huge inflow of the Chinese people most of them can hardly say a world in English. What are they here for?
Lets ask ourselves what we want for our country.
It time we changed the laws to benefit ourselves too. If not our country will continue to wallow in perpetual underdevelopment and poverty.
The choice is exclusively ours and lets not blame the so called in investors.
When Politicians, chief Executives, Managers and employees are busy getting brown envelops, they avoid to read and understand the small prints. If they read they just brush them aside in preference for brown envelops. The small print contains valuable information which can avoid such daylight theft. No wonder where we are today.
Its a case of perfect impefections, Lol.
Tax avoidance is very legal, this ins’t tax avoidance; this is tax evasion and deserve the full wrath of the law!!!
Its just a wonder how a foreigner would develop our Coutry. Investors are simply parasites and they will be, for more time to come. What African Governments should do is to encourage local investors because they will be here and would spend their profits here and the Countries will develop.
Ever wondered why Kwacha would not appreciate? Look around All multi National Companies at the end of the month, convert their kwacha to dollar and the dollar goes away leaving the local currency in tatters. Then when a politician says vote for me, ask him what will be tax policy on Mines (windfall tax) and all foreign investment if any?
You can’t let a visitor develop your house… Just manage it yourself.. I hate seeing that there hadly had development in Mazabuka.. (home of zambia sugar).. Gvt must take over and start running the company.. otherwise poverty will never leave africa… Nigeria’s oil is cntaminating rivers leaving residents drinking unsafe water.. Do those oil dealers take note of this.. Ofcourse NOT as long as they make huge profits abroad..
we need the money back..let them pay back together with the pfost and big bum DPP the owed amounts to DBZ!!
In business you trust no one scrutinise every one crooks are every where
Is there no one left in Zambia who understands those complex contracts these whites flash in our faces? we are signing off monies away and just happy to have our faces appear in the papers during signing ceremonies.They sponsor a few chaps to a ka course in London and in return we sell off our land, our inheritance.Mothers are dying due to lack of antenatal care,children are dying from malnutrition befoer they reach their 5 birthday,hospitals have no drugs,our roads are old diplidated,our schools have no books,let alone walls and these colonialists are stealing from us? How evil some people can be!
… and How stupid some Africans can be?
wake u up call? its rock science to most law makers in Zambia, all they understand best is creating bye-elections. and as for IIIOVO,Attracting investors? i know they take advantage of dull selfish policy and law makers, there is no way Gov’t can be so domant with out revising incentives after a company gets on a gd footing and is posting health profit…..
@5 we r a nation and our problems has nothing to do with western influence,look at kenya, the r much better than us, its all to do with our gov’t , voting is key fact, even with hard ecomomical hardship a sound leader makes a difference but come elections we go animal, tribal someone told me he cldn’t vote for some candidate coz he was a certain tribe, Obama won not coz of skin colour but substance, sorry to day that our destiny is in our own hands.
well even if they paid taxes govt would only misuse them and that money will never reach the poor!except during election campaigns..that’s just how it is…the people in power spend their time debating frivolous things..hurling insults at each other instead of taking care of Zambians!
and it shud come as no surprise that these muzungus have stolen from us…thats what they do!thats what they’ve always done..cut throats,theives…only difference is that today they dont come with guns,diseases and religion to enslave us or rob us
@Dora.. you are missing the point!! It is morally wrong for multinationals to avoid paying taxes. The issue of making the taxes psy for the public goods is for the Zambian people to ensure that the government is made to account!!! Unfortunately, Zambian are so.. whats the word?…I dont know …but we tend to behave as if those in power are our masters, who should be glorified and worshipped .
this is a very sad reading. does it mean that GRZ was not aware of this or they pretended paid a deaf ear beacuse of the rampant corr…………… it is our resources (time, labour, land) that these white colonialist are abusing. are we still in the era of muzungu anikonde?
@Kamuzungu if you have watched the video clip u would have heard the guy saying they interviewed the Revenue Authority, so GRZ must have been aware about the scheme. But these are complicated arrangements such that even in developed countries they happen…havent u heard of the recent stories about Starbucks, Google etc avoiding paying taxes in the UK? If this could happen in a country with the technical skills and capacity what more in Z??
Its on BBC and the queen is shedding crocodile tears at zambias losses
She can go to hell! Just give us back the stolen money
Gvt must own the sugar company, mines and all Zambia’s nature resources.. If this won’t happen, poverty will not leave Zambia only cash flowing outside while these same mzungu call Zambia one of the poorest nation in the world. They make big monies when selling stocks from developing nations.. Hand outs will continue to pretend they are helping not milking the poor nations …
Can we ever do anything without a muzungu? I doubt it. Muzungus everywhere. Its almsot 50 years since KK brought Zambianisation and yet the Zambians are managing to extradite profits to outside and not helping to build the country. Dont tell me there are no Zambians in Zambia Sugar. Whats wrong with us.
This is but a drop in the ocean. There are more such exploiting thieves!
First they came here pretending they were our physical and spiritual saviours. They colonised us, stole our mineral and human resources and at Times committed genocide oN us. Ask the Herero and kenyans. If we were Jews they would have vowed to repay us our every penny but not only don’t they acknowledge what they owe us now they come back to steal more from those they impooverished. This is why Mugabe tells them to keep their BritaIn. Give us our money imwee ba mwisa!
People of Zambia let’s pressure the government to avoid making lame contracts that don’t benefit others. Imagine these multinations avoid paying tax, the tax which paid would lift about 85000 starving children out of poverty? What are the functions of a government? I understand that one of them is to protect exploiters from exploiting the benefits of it’s people from pollution from copper mines, by taxing copper mines, sugar companies and all multinational and foreign companies so they can convert the revenue into helping the nation moving forward and a nation a simply ordinary people you see on the streets of Zambia everyday. Let’s arise let’s wake up Zambia!!! It’s time to open our eyes and get what belongs to us. There must be no poverty because all the Zambian resources still…
am very sad to read this report and am starting asking myself question why it is like this.is’t that we are cursed or what? even now remember the song by nathan nyirenda ( mwemakufi yandi mwinenuka) cause this is not the the way we should live if we want to develop,imagine this report (It is estimated that the tax haven transactions of this one British headquartered multinational deprived Zambia of a sum 14 times larger than the UK aid provided to the country to combat hunger and food insecurity.) may Jesus help us and we need to change the laws we need to change the way we do business otherwise we will remain with nothing.
People of Zambia let’s pressure the government to avoid making lame contracts that don’t benefit us. Imagine these multicompanies avoid paying tax, which if paid would lift about 85000 starving souls out of poverty? What are the functions of a government? I understand that one of them is to protect exploiters from exploiting the benefits of it’s people from pollution from copper mines, by taxing copper mines, sugar companies and all multinational and foreign companies so they can convert the revenue into helping the nation moving forward and a nation a simply ordinary people you see on the streets of Zambia everyday. Let’s arise let’s wake up Zambia!!! It’s time to open our eyes and get what belongs to us. There must be no poverty because all the Zambian resources still belong to…
ZRA, what are you doing? Did those thieves at Zambia Sugar tell you that they will be expanding their plantation and so they should be exempted from corporate tax because they will importing equipment and employing more people? This was stupid because I believe the old plantation is still producing and fetching good money. Investment in the new addition should not alter tax arrangement, which should be based on old plantation and current production levels. Capital requirements for expansion treated as sourced separately from elsewhere. What the fnck is this?
Tax Avoidance is legal. Just find a better way of making them pay something.Starbucks was doing the same in Britain,and they have been forced to pay .It is legal but morally wrong.
dont discourage investors who are creating wealth. ActionAid what have you done for Zambia? We know what these companies were during parastatals days whether it is UBZ, INDECO, ZIMCO, MEMACO, Kafironda, Mwaiseni, Supa loaf, Chilanga, Nakambala and so on. Privatisation saved a few like CHilanga Cement and Zambia Sugar. Dont take us to the dark ages of nationalisation. I rest my case.
@Motomoto:
Where in this report is NATIONALIZATION mentioned? You are the kind of Zambians who have contributed to this problem by always giving “undeserved BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT” to foreigners! The report clearly shows you how unethical and heartless these multinationals are, and you still think it is the whistle-blowers (ActionAid) that is wrong. What kind of a FDI KISS-@ss are you?!!!!!!!!!
Tax avoidance is not legal. Starbucks, Amazon and Google used a loophole to avoid corporate tax but behind closed doors offered to reimburse the British government and pay penalties to avoid length and embarrassing trial, which would have put their directors behind bars.
Ministry of Finance and your ZRA, what is this stupid obsession with tax holidays given to these infestors? You have given some mining houses the same “incentive”. This is based on the understanding that green field investments takes in so much money in development before you start reaping and making a profit. We understand Lumwana and Kansanshi may not be paying I guess. But how long can it take to do land preparation, planting of the cane to start harvesting? WE NEED ROADS AND RAILWAY LINES AMONG OTHER THINGS PLEASE!
As for Associated British Foods and their Illovo baby, shame on them that stealing and raping a poor nation of the much needed resources is their pride. Why are British capitalists so hard hearted as to cause deprivation where they operate from? Anglo America mining firms used to mine copper from Northern Rhodesia’s copperbelt and the tax money therefrom taken to develop Salsbury in Southern Rhodesia by the Federal govt, while Northern Rhodesia had poor schools, roads, clinics etc. The resources could have helped us improve many of these aspects. What madness!
This common even in europe many european business entities know how to beat the tax trap and you can’t catch them. Pa Zed we have failed even on small *****ic cases and we think we can pull this one, mwe fibuba mwe, when shall you open your shallow minds? The same people came and took your copper while you watched ba kabwa
Where are educated illiterates who advise Governments to sign these contracts. One thing about Zambians is that we do not have people who are sufficiently educated in interpretation of contracts and tax issues. Come to think of it how can a cadre permanent Secretary and poorly educated Directors know these things. Waht with ignorant MPs and Ministers. Its sad
That company must pay the tax in arrears since it has accepted paying virtually nothing and that payment should include a penalty for avoiding to pay corporation tax.
And when we complain about MMD some people are not happy.Why should we allow investors to be behaving like this,and all this years for that matter?
The MMD of Chiluba, Sata, Chikwanda, Luo, Scott, Sakeni etc privatised Zambia Sugar with Valentine Chitalu overseeing the transaction. Chitalu is a Director on the Zambia Sugar Company board. It is this gang that was selling 90 % shares in parastatals and only reserving 10% of the shares to be traded on Luse! Levy also fudged KCM privatisation. He got screwed by Mahtani and the Agarwal wanker who owns Vedanta! Problem in Zambia is that people got damaged by Kaunda’s socialist misrule. Zambians are not business savvy , they are easily cheated. The other problem is that by nature Zambian govts are authoritarian , they don’t entertain public debate on their policies. You’ve been briefed!
We were tld that privatisation was going 2 bring prosperity.Little did we know that pipo advocating 4 such were crooks.Suffice 2 say that i think privatisation has brought mo harm than gud.It’s better 2 mismanage yo own resources than 2 let foreighnes rip yo wealth.
Highly unacceptable, what was ZRA doing, what is our so called man of no action President doing about this? This is why we need HH to rule because he is clear on windfall tax and other tax reforms that the country needs. We need industries to be established, local entrepreneurs to be fully people supported etc. this is what the president should have been advocating for, not roads and travelling to India and other countries looking for foreign investors who come ripe our resources and not pay any tax like recent sugar company in Mazabuka. We need very tough rules for foreign investors Please Mr.President for the sake of the country retire early and allow HH to bring about real change, you will still have your retirement house and we will forgive for your false promises.
Foolish comment from you,you are not even wise and HH has actually no heart for the people of Zambia. His ambition is just power and nothing else. Why has he not brought the issue out already because that is where he comes from. HH who cannot even send message of condolences on the recent accident.
Zambia itself is to blame, why didnt the gvt know this all this time.Why does it have to be a foreign person to expose whats happening locally. Are so stupid that we cant detect this. Ndeleki was busy chasing parties why didnt he chase such companies.
What lessons do we learn from this? Where to from here now that we know.
And some misguided POLITICOS condemn Sylvia Masebo when she stops this same kind of rotten behavior in the management of our precious wildlife, yaba!
@Wise Commentor, it is your same HH who HAS BEEN FOR THE WINDFALL TAX and also BEEN AGAINST IT at one time or another. So it is hard to know exactly what your HH really stands for, or what his core values are in so far as dealing with foreign ‘infesters’ is concerned.
By the way, aren’t HH and his cronies in UPND currently at the forefront itching for a ‘guillotine’ around Sylvia Masebo’s neck for actually doing something about this kind of tax avoidance shenanigans? And you want to pretend HH has Zambia at heart, REALLY?! The guy is all over the map on these issues bululu—you can never trust anything he says on any given day!
@ Yambayamba with due respect you need some wisdom. I am under the assumption that you are in support of our President and his lack of performance and inability to govern. Firstly, how many times has Sata changed his statements or done something opposite to what he promised??? I would be surprise if less than 200 times (throughout his political career) and what did we do we voted him in power. Next he doubles his salary, then builds his retirement home and goes borrow money from the private investors (probably at a high cost) and spends it on unnecessary bye-elections and then goes on to build roads for what? who needs roads in Zambia when people cannot even afford cars. This is the man who has Zambia at heart. I still think HH or Chimipo Elias are better choices
Also, we need someone very proactive with new and strong ideas to revamp the whole country. HH has a proven record. Zambia needs both economic and entrepreneur growth. He has experience in both. If anything, if he can team up with Chimipo Jr. they would be the perfect solution for Zambia. Basically, we need a President that is focused on rebuilding Zambia rather than destroying his political opponents, firing and hiring people or acting like the ACC general. If this was a true man of action, the only things he should have been talking about are solutions to vast problems Zambia has and putting them into effect rather than talking about Never Mumba or political things every time he is in public
@Wise Commentor:
Quote: “I am under the assumption that you are in support of our President and his lack of performance and inability to govern.”
To start with, your assumption is totally wrong and off topic! And neither did say Sata is a Saint or even mention his name in comparison to HH. This is the problem with you unadulterated supported of HH and UPND these days; you think anyone who says anything against HH must be a supporter of Sata or PF. Bwana, you couldn’t be any further from the truth. There are plenty of us out here who are neutral and just want to see our country do better regardless of who the president is.
Cont…
Furthermore, it is really quite ‘jaundiced’ of you to say that Sata is unable to govern or perform because this statement is very subjective. Does it mean if Opposition Parties say that Sata is not performing then this has to be taken as the gospel truth? I think NOT, because there are equally millions of other Zambians who do not share such sentiments with the likes of Nevers Mumba and his MMD, or Hichilema with his UPND. So who is right?
Cont…
Quote: “Firstly, how many times has Sata changed his statements or done something opposite to what he promised???”
Yeah, and how disappointed are you in him because of his ‘double talking’ ways? And yet you seem to put your faith in another ‘double talker’ who seems to have no conviction whatsoever in what he says. Like I said, HH has been FOR and AGAINST windfall tax in the past, so for you to say HH is consistent in these matters is a complete lie! And this is what I was attempting to show you in my earlier post.
Cont…
As for the other stuff you have said about Sata, well, you have every right to feel the way you do as ours is a democracy. But I see no connection between making sure foreign multinationals pay their fair share of taxes and building Sata’s house. These are separate issues needing different topics of discussion altogether. The only other person (other than HH) I mentioned in my statement is Minister Sylvia Masebo, yet you chose to discuss Sata. The question is why?
It seems the hatred some of you people have for Sata makes you blind to the facts. You just cannot wait to take any opportunity, even if it means getting off topic, to discuss and complain about Sata. Well, some of us refuse to engage in this kind of “tunnel vision” discourse.
Cont…
Furthermore, it is really quite ‘jaundiced’ of you to say that Sata is unable to govern or perform because this statement is very subjective. Does it mean if Opposition Parties say that Sata is not performing then this has to be taken as the gospel truth? I think NOT, because there are equally millions of other Zambians who do not share such sentiments with the likes of Nevers Mumba and his MMD, or Hichilema with his UPND. So who is right?
As for who is WISE, well, l leave that to the good LT audience to judge!
Cont…
Furthermore, it is really quite ‘jaundiced’ of you to say that Sata is unable to govern or perform because this statement is very subjective. Does it mean if Opposition Parties say that Sata is not performing then this has to be taken as the gospel truth? I think NOT, because there are equally millions of other Zambians who do not share such sentiments with the likes of Nevers Mumba and his MMD, or Hichilema with his UPND. So who is right?
As for who is WISE; well, l will leave that to the good LT audience to judge!
when a nation attracts investment by using statements like “you can come and invest in zambia and move your money however you want”, there begins a problem. Levy Patrick Mwanawasa announced that. MHSRP. The name remains as Zambia sugar, but Zambia sugar died way back when ilovo new management came on seen. Ilovo management was bought off and with huge investment in making Zambia sugar the best largest producer of suger in africa, with intent to be by way second to south africa. The ilovo where bought by royal UK interest. you dont expect less, than all money out when UK is struggling and looking around territorial regions for economic input.
dont complain when a nation is being sold off and all you doing are stupid politics at the expense of a people and nation that is supposed to be respected. KDK as your former head of state can testify and not laugh.
Sata may look stupid to get ZAMTEL back now, he lookk stupid now to get back Zambia Railways. At times it is so hard to be real in Zambia. OK, Mr Kavindele has been given an importunity to own northwestern rail line, we hope to see more good come out of that than just him feeding his family at expense of a country, where children are dying for lack of a meal. We dont have to depend on national mealie meal to tell us the price of mealie meal when the maize they grind is from the same farmers they are trying to starve. how long should it take Zambia before we finish the struggle against ubunga, it started in 1980s
to be honest it is even sad that we as a nation we should be discussing mining taxi. Zambia is the largest copper mining nation in africa and yet still struggling to correct signed contracts by people who either have died or are still living. I strongly believe it is to the benefit of Zambia and Zambian people especially the Zambians who are still in poverty which I believe most of you guys here are ignoring. There is nothing wrong with giving a chance to the current president. Let him do what he can and if no one likes him they will vote him out. There is no need to just be antagonistic just out of self ambitions and at expense of the people you want to serve in your ordinary way or whatever way you want to serve Zambia and Zambian people, a people so honest, a people yet vulnerable. ps
this should a testimony why it is very important when you are given a position by a president that you must perform to good and for Zambia not your pockets. and I pray to God and ask my God that Prof. Chirwa does not end up like that fool who was given chance to revamp KNC
I believ Government know who owns Ilovo, maybe The Queen, maybe Tony Blair or Gordon Brown or Prince Charles
Tax holidays of up to about 20 years have been granted to some companies on the premise that it will take a lot of time before these companies start realising some profit because for the time being they are just sinking in “borrowed” money as investment. But you can’t let KCM stop paying taxes because it is developing Konkola Deep Mine. It has to pay for the old operational mines which make money. The expansion investment must be treated separately. That is what is happening at Zambia Sugar. Ati because they are expanding so they stop paying tax? Come on ZRA…
Legacy of the MMD, RUBBISH! If we had given MMD another 10 years they could have sold the whole country to foreigners and we would all be slaves. They got greedy when they started disposing off government assets in shady deals. How do sell a fully operational mine for $10 million? We need to take back our companies or acquire 50% stakes in them so that we can monitor the profits.
after all has been said and done, what are we as the zambian people gonna do about this….
Tax avoidance is not a crime, tax evasion is a crime. Avoidance is simply taking advantage of loopholes in the tax code for monetary gain whereas evasion relates to concealing a tax obligation. Do not get citizens excited for nothing, take it on ZRA and GRZ, not the Company!
Its time the PF govt to look into the issue of tax avoidance. For how long should such investors be given such incentives at the expense of the Zambian people. That is why we need Civil Society Organisations in a country
A tax avoidance takes good corporate tax planners because it is not illegal. The govt should just put a good structure in place at ZRA and Min. of Fin to counter these clever tax avoidance schemes. We will otherwise continue loosing huge somes of money in tax revenues that legally escape the dragnet.
A tax evasion on the other hand is an illegal act which attracts big fines or jail sentence and in most cases both. These are also common place in a country like Zambia where the tax administration structures are not robust. They are perpetrated and carried out by both small and big companies but it is believed they are more prevalent among the small and informal companies that are not subject to rigorous checks. The big corporations and especially multinationals tend to prey on tax avoidance schemes while remaining fairly compliant in all tax regimes.
This is just like Rail Systems Of Zambia…, King Cobra can you bring back this company under Zambian hands? There is enough market for sugar within Zambia and SADC. We need to build roads and railways.., how are we going to do that if you cant tap this cash..? Lets leave multinationals to run our supermarkets with supplies from our farmers country wide. I am tired of seeing, walking and driving on mud all over Lusaka including on Independence Avenue.. Matika twakana..!!!
RB was said to be a graduate with a Masters degree, how came all these scams happened under his Nose?????
Bloody bustards
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