A Compulsory research report submitted to Mzumbe University – Mbeya Campus College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for an Award of the Bachelor of Laws (L.L.B) Degree of Mzumbe University
This study aims at analyzing the laws governing amount of tax to be paid by investors in mining industries in Tanzania. The primary purpose of taxation is widely comprehended as is to raise revenue and to meet huge public expenditure, that’s where laws come in, to govern the charges and imposement of taxes on individuals or property in order to raise funds for public purposes. Tax laws are known to be amended time to time to suit an economic year. The Mining Sector is one of the leading sectors in Tanzania with the value of mineral exports increasing tremendously each year and it contributes largely to the annual GDP. In the recent years there has been tax-disputes between Mining Companies and the government of United Republic of Tanzania. The top famous cases were between The Barrick Gold Company and the government and between Anglo-Gold Ashanti and the government whereby they faced charges including tax evasion. The idea of this study came from several articles written online and on newspapers of which framed issues relating to the Mining Industry and the government tax disputes as to where the problem lies. Most of the articles stated that the government is strict on its laws governing mining industry taxation and that the mining tax burden is huge on the Mining Industries that the most companies opt to evade taxation in order to get some kind of relief. But in viewing the bigger picture, the Mining industry has been maximizing more profits in every economic year and our country still remained in the ten most poor countries in the world. In tax collection, Tanzania Revenue Authority plays a main role and faces challenges of which the researcher thought could be leaving a hole of which tax evasion and avoidance escape through. Through further reading of different manuals, internet materials and reviewing various documents, it came to the researcher’s knowledge of the chain of amendments starting from 2017. The Amendments of The Mining Act, the written laws (miscellaneous amendments) of 2017 played a major changing role to the Mining sector of which had negative and positive welcome. It has been noted to be a reasonable change in taxation especially to the Mining Industry since the main purpose of the government is an economic development and what would be a better resource than our own minerals? It is a degrading of status The United Republic of Tanzania previously had to be in the list of the ten most poor countries in the world while it has natural wealth within. Through observation and interviews by different officers at the TRA, and different legal officers, it came to the researcher’s knowledge that one of the big problems facing the TRA is corruption. It enables false Auditing information from some of the Mining Extraction Companies, a problem which has been addressed by different researchers and legal officers in documents and online articles. Previously it was seen as the strict tax law policies push the tax disputes but actually if critically examined, there are some hidden evils like Corruption which lead to situations where give rise to controversies between the government and the mining industry. The tax amendment amendments foresaw the interests gained by Mining Industry and sought of ways of which to properly impose taxation on them in order to maximize revenue of the country and develop the country, that is of course the major purpose of the taxation by the government after all. To strengthen the expenditure and public social services. The results of this academic research were helpful, it provides knowledge and awareness to the public on importance of investigation different claims in relation to any problem whether in law or other categories. The public needs the awareness of tax machinery in relation to the advantages attained from revenues. The Mining Industry is a business entity which its main purpose is to seek profit, that’s to say, the analyzation of the laws from the study see that the taxation does not hinder the Mining Industry’s’ maximization of profit whatsoever, it just seeks to attain the portions of the interests in order to improve the country’s economy at large. This study argues that the government of Tanzania should increase its share of revenue by taxation, increase its auditing skills and ensure the increase of transparency of co interacts and limiting the discretionary power of policy makers in negotiating contracts.