UPND INTRODUCES NEW LAW TO TAX THE POOR FAILING TO MAKE PROFITS IN BUSINESS CALLED MINIMUM ALTERNATIVE TAX: AN ASSAULT ON ZAMBIA’S SMALL BUSINESSES AND HARD-WORKING CITIZENS- Kasonde Mwenda C -EFF President

Urgent PRESS STATEMENT

UPND INTRODUCES NEW LAW TO TAX THE POOR FAILING TO MAKE PROFITS IN BUSINESS CALLED MINIMUM ALTERNATIVE TAX: AN ASSAULT ON ZAMBIA’S SMALL BUSINESSES AND HARD-WORKING CITIZENS- Kasonde Mwenda C -EFF President

30th August 2025

The Economic Freedom Fighters strongly condemn the UPND government’s reckless and utterly insensitive introduction of the Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT) — a so-called revenue measure that is nothing short of an assault on Zambia’s entrepreneurs, small businesses, and the backbone of our rural economy.

This legislation is not only thoughtless and ill-conceived, but outright heartless. By slapping a blanket 1% tax on gross turnover, regardless of profit or loss, the government is targeting those who toil day and night to put food on the table — from the smallholder farmer with rotational crops to the corner shop owner grappling with ever-rising costs.

Take the example of an ordinary Zambian in agriculture, who rotates crops but depends on maize as the mainstay. In years of low rain or market shocks, profits vanish, yet the MAT forces them to pay tax on every kwacha earned, even if the harvest barely breaks even or runs at a loss. Is it just to tax a struggling farmer while letting multinational mining giants off the hook with tax breaks as they cart away Zambia’s mineral wealth

We, the Economic Freedom Fighters, recognize that expanding the tax base is crucial for our country’s future. But expansion must not come at the expense of the very Zambians whose sweat fuels this nation. It is an insult to ask local businesses, who already face high costs and market challenges, to shoulder even more—while the mining sector is granted undeserved concessions and outsized profits. This is a textbook example of misplaced priorities and government incompetence.

The unintended consequences are already clear:
• More rural poverty and hunger as smallholder farmers pay taxes even in bad years;
• Plummeting morale among small business owners, leading to closures, job losses, and worsening economic hardship;
• A hostile environment for genuine economic diversification, with only the big players benefiting and ordinary Zambians pushed to the margins.

This is a failure of leadership, vision, and empathy from the UPND government — a government that promised economic growth and inclusive prosperity but instead delivers policies that stifle the hardworking masses.

Under an EFF-led government, policies would put the Zambian business owner first. We would create a thriving business environment for small and medium enterprises, remove punitive taxes like MAT on turnover, ensure sector-sensitive tax measures, and hold multinational mining companies truly accountable.

EFF believes in empowering Zambians, supporting innovation, and protecting the engine of non-mining growth—the farmer, the trader, the manufacturer.

Zambia’s economic liberation will not come from squeezing the lifeblood out of its SMEs and smallholder farmers. It will come from visionary leadership that protects and uplifts its people, unlocking the entrepreneurial spirit of our nation.

We call for the immediate revocation of this damaging piece of legislation. Let us create a Zambia where sweat and effort are rewarded—not punished.

Wherever we want to go our feet will take us there.

Issued by:

Kasonde Mwenda C,
President, Economic Freedom Fighters-EFF