PSV drivers, Miners hails Lungu

By Staff Reporter, KITWE 

Copperbelt Public Service Vehicle (PSV) drivers have praised President Edgar Lungu for revoking the new presumptive tax on bus and taxi operators. 

And Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) retrenched miners have expressed gratitude to President Edgar Lungu for the manner he has intervened in helping mitigate the impact of job losses by giving them some tax relief. 

Two weeks ago bus and taxi operators on the Copperbelt protested saying that paying of the taxes was cumbersome and consequently costly. 

A check by WM Media on Tuesday at KMB terminus and Inter-Mine in Kitwe and Ndola respectively found PSV drivers chanting “ifintu ni Lungu”. 

The excitement was caused by a pronunciation made by Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda in which he said President Lungu had revoked presumptive tax that had affected the transport sector and ordered reversal of the SI 41. 

“President Edgar Lungu has reversed Statutory Instrument (SI) 41 of 2015 that increased the unit fee from 20 Ngwee per unit to 30 Ngwee per unit,” said Mr. Chanda. 

“The Head of State has also with immediate effect revoked the law that imposed presumptive tax on bus and taxi operators,” he added. 

The presumptive tax is a tax imposed on an informal sector like transport and when it was introduced, bus operators were meant to pay tax of between K1,600 and K19,700 per month at ZRA offices. 

The fees were revised in accordance with the provisions of Statutory Instrument No.41 of July 2015 of the Fees and Fines Act, which increased the value of the Penalty Units from 20 ngwee to 30 ngwee per Penalty Unit. 

The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) introduced the presumptive tax on bus and taxi operators this year. 

Mr. Chanda said President Lungu has since directed the ministries of Finance and Transport to revert to the initial fees and fines that transport operators were paying. 

He said the head of state has ordered the two ministries to review the entire penal and tax Law that affect the transport business to ease their operations and make them more effective. 

Mr. Chanda added that bus and taxi operators should know that the review is with immediate effect and should corporate with RTSA and ZRA. 

The revised fines ranged from K225 to K450 for charges penalty offenses which include traffic offenses, unlicensed Motor Vehicle,expired Test certificate and fitness, defective tyres talking on mobile phones whilst driving. 

And Bus operators Chairperson Ishmael Kankara of the bus operators has told the Daily Nation that his association was happy that Government had heard its plea because maintaining the fees and fines would have had a huge impact on the cost of doing business in the transport sector. 

Mr. Kankara said the bus operators were already paying too much for other services and that the increase would have suffocated them more adding that the commuters would also have felt the impact of such upward adjustments as the bus owners would have had no option but to hike the fares in order to meet the costs. 

He noted that the intervention by Government had come at the right time when economic challenges had also taken a toll on the sector. 

“We want to thank Government for coming to our aid because the proposed fees were just too high for the sector which is already paying so much in other taxes. Of course, this will provide a little bit of relief to us because we are already operating under very difficult conditions,” Mr. Kankara said. 

And Mine workers Union of Zambia (MUZ) General Secretary Joseph Chewe has confirmed that the retrenched miners have all been given some tax relief by the President who has stopped Government from taxing K18, 000 ex-gratia given to MCM employees declared redundant in the wake of the current economic down-turn.