Finance Minister says the opening of parliament on the 18th of June will affect the implementation of sales tax on 1ST July 2019.
Speaking in an interview with Money FM News Margaret Mwanakatwe says the sales tax bill will have to undergo various stages of reading before it is passed into law.
Mrs Mwanakatwe says the country would have earned about 7.1 billion Kwacha if both import and sales tax was introduced by 1st of July.
The Minister also says all outstanding legitimate value added tax refunds will be paid.
She says reconciliations will be undertaken to close off VAT refunds and a plan will be put in place on how the verified refund will be liquidated.
Mrs Mwanakatwe says government arrived at the decision to introduce sales tax because it wants to stop debt refund escalation and create a fiscal space that is required for the country’s
Gross domestic product (GDP) to remain positive.
The Minster further says a committee of permanent secretaries for all ministries has been formed to allow them to adhere to the led down austerity measures.
She says each of the permanent secretaries have been allocated with tasks emanating from the measures.
Ms Mwanakatwe says the committee will be giving input to the Cabinet ministers and ensure that they follow up on actions recommended to see to it that austerity measures are followed.
And speaking at the same event ZRA Commissioner for domestic taxes Moses Shuko says performance of VAT has not grown as expected in view of the high level of refunds which have outpaced the growth in the gross collections.
And Zambia National Farmers Union ZNFU President Jervis Zimba has called on the minister to zero rate the Agriculture sector for it grow and be able to contribute greatly to the country’s GDP.