THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) will lose K80 billion annually in uncollected revenue because of the estimated loss of 10,000 jobs in the mining sector and related industries.
ZRA commissioner general, Chriticles Mwansa, said in Lusaka that job losses in the mining sector and allied industries resulted in a monthly loss of revenue of K6.85 billion, which translated into K80 billion annually.
The committee was looking at the global financial crisis and its impact on revenue collection in Zambia.
"The global economic crisis is adversely affecting Pay As You Earn (PAYE) revenue collection mainly as a result of job losses in the mining, tourism and other export-based sectors.
"Ultimately, this will translate into an annual projected loss of K82.2 billion from the mining sector alone," Mr Mwansa said.
Mr Mwansa said another sector most hit by the crisis was tourism, which had seen its contribution towards the trade taxes falling from K3.35 billion in the first quarter of last year to K1.74 billion in the first quarter of 2009.
He said the manufacturing sector had also showed a marked decline in trade revenue contribution, falling from K105.2 billion in the last third quarter of last year to K89.33 billion in the first quarter of this year.
Mr Mwansa said to maintain the productivity of the country's revenue system, ZRA had repositioned itself and resources to collect revenues from sectors that had shown some resilience to the global financial crisis.
He said the authority had also reinvigorated its anti-smuggling strategies to ensure that those who sought to evade payment of taxes were detected and prosecuted.
Mr Mwansa said although times were generally difficult for the ZRA, the authority had recognised that taxpayers were going through difficult times and would ensure that tax laws were fairly applied.
He said this would ensure that there was a level playing field in the economy and everyone contributed their lawful share to the treasury to support the Government's development programmes.
