(3minutes read)
· Zimbabwe’s miners and the government are at loggerheads on the issue of retention of foreign exchange and the royalties that they are required to pay to the government
· The gold miners are engaging the government and the central bank to put an end to the illicit gold mining
· They also want the government to review downwards the taxes that are falling on mines and minerals since they complain that at the present rate the taxes are debilitating the mining process
Zimbabwe’s miners and the government are at loggerheads on the issue of retention of foreign exchange and the royalties that they are required to pay to the government. The gold miners are engaging the government and the central bank to put an end to the illicit gold mining.
The miners are of the opinion that the government should raise the benchmark for the foreign exchange retention by the miners. They also want the government to review downwards the taxes that are falling on mines and minerals since they complain that at the present rate the taxes are debilitating the mining process. The royalties they point out have increased several fold in the recent years casting a very hiked up cost on the mining sector.
They point out that the government charges 25% of royalties and corporate tax. The VAT is levied at 15%. There is also an exploration fee, making the sector most taxed. Miners, therefore, urged the government to bring down the tax rates to reasonable limits in the interest of all stakeholders.
Miners feel that if the monetary authorities keep foreign exchange retention to above 70%, it would be an encouragement for the gold miners to commit themselves more to the business. The retention percentage was reduced by the government recently from 70% to 60% to the consternation of the miners, who want the status ante to be maintained. They also want the government to sit down with the miners to discuss the problems across the board.
