Financial consultant tips Govt

THE K400 million reported to be uncollected by Government in the Auditor- General’s report shows that the country has some idle money that can used to liquidate domestic arrears, financial consultant Agape Kapasa has said.

Dr Kapasa said the uncollected revenue should be recouped to help Government fund domestic solution to problems such the burdensome public workers’ salaries.

He was speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation in Lusaka at the weekend.

“Now, there is a solution through that uncollected revenue. The same money could be the resource to help our country with the debt situation.

“If you notice, the amount that was given by the Auditor- General it was almost half a billion kwacha that was uncollected. That is a lot of money that can actually assist the country rather than looking for help from elsewhere,” he said.

He said creating easier platforms for business owners to pay taxes would actually create easier collection of revenue for Government which could be used in running the country.

“The budget speech indicated that Government would make it mandatory to use Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFD) for VAT and other tax types and facilitate accreditation of additional EFD distributors and Virtual EFD software suppliers.

“But we must remember that we have huge informal sector and huge sector of enterprises that are not registered but making large amount of income. These need to register because there is a lot of money circulating that is not going back in the sectors in term of taxes,” he said.

If you notice, the amount that was given by the Auditor- General it was almost half a billion kwacha that was uncollected. That is a lot of money that can actually assist the country rather than looking for help from elsewhere,”

— Dr Kapasa.