An Analysis of the Zambian Taxation System

The Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM) challenge has presented itself in Africa’s appetite for debt and Zambia is not an exception. As a result, more concerted efforts are needed to contain high fiscal deficits and avoid reckless borrowing. The objectives of this study were to conduct an analysis of: • the tax regime (gender responsiveness and progressivity) and identify the taxes that disadvantage women • analyse the tax incidence for the major tax types and review the burden of tax • conduct an analysis of government expenditure trends and the implications of inadequate domestic resource mobilization on productive and social sector spending • assess how Zambia can implement a robust progressive wealth tax system • provide an estimate of the forgone revenue in current tax system and the extent of revenue leakages • identify some of the challenges in Zambia's tax system that are impeding domestic revenue mobilization. The analysis adopted a descriptive short time series, cross-sectional design and to inform its analysis, the study used both quantitative and qualitative data. This report relied heavily on secondary data gathered through interactions with relevant stakeholders as well as a desk review of relevant documentation and published evidence. Key informant interviews with relevant stakeholders have been used to collect primary data. These methods enabled the collection of sufficient data to answer the study's objectives. Summary statistics and graphs has been used to analyse the quantitative data collected.