Over-taxing citizens slows down economic growth – Mucheleka
By Staff Reporter
OPPOSITION United Party for National Development (UPND) deputy secretary general in charge of politics Patrick Mucheleka says over-taxing the working class slows down economic growth.
Appearing on Pan African radio as guest on Thursday, Mucheleka explained that when citizens were over-taxed, the basic implication was that a country’s economy could not grow.
Mucheleka said it was ironical that Zambians were being over-taxed while corrupt PF leaders were buying luxury vehicles for themselves.
“We are paying for corruption! People are being over-taxed…. As they imposed an internet call tax on us, I saw state-of-the-art vehicles which they have bought for themselves. Minsters are going to buy themselves brand new Toyota V8 state-of-the-art vehicles as if they do not have vehicles! Who is going to pay for that? It is you and me and that is why we are being over-taxed – we are being over-taxed to pay for corruption and to pay for luxury consumption for PF ministers and their cronies,”
He added that part of the huge sums of money Zambians were paying in taxes was being stolen through contracts to their Chinese friends.
“They are even failing to pay back the money that we borrowed under the Euro bond. That is the regime that we have of PF; they have no capacity to grow the economy. They only know how to steal – how to engage in corruption, how to borrow and borrow and to over-tax,” he lamented.
And Mucheleka, a former Lubansenshi Independent member of parliament, recalled that the PF government had hinted of creating a Sinking Fund but all that money had been consumed.
“But now we have no capacity to pay back and what this government has now done is to subject this Euro bond to a vulture fund! Even as we talk about Turkey to buy our debt, itself is in an economic turmoil….” said Mucheleka.
