Publications > Mining

By subject
Categories:
Search:
Health Spending, Illicit Financial Flows and Tax Incentives in Malawi

Health Spending, Illicit Financial Flows and Tax Incentives in Malawi

Joint article in Malawi Medical Journal with Bernadette O’Hare (University of St Andrews, Scotland / College of Medicine, University of Malawi) (November 2014)

Malawi suffers from a high disease burden, with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world and with more than 1 in 9 children dying before their fifth birthday. This article examines Malawi’s health spending in light of the the revenues it loses through providing tax incentives and through illicit financial flows. Malawi needs to spend around $530 million each year to provide a minimal health package for all its citizens, yet government and donors are spending only around $400 million. At the same time, Malawi is losing nearly $400 million a year from the provision of tax incentives and lost tax income from illicit financial flows out of the country. If these lost revenues were recovered, Malawi could pay for a minimal health package from its own resources. (The weblink to this article is here)

Read full publication >

Categories: Health, Mining, Tax
Losing Out: Sierra Leone’s massive revenue losses from tax incentives

Losing Out: Sierra Leone’s massive revenue losses from tax incentives

Report for Budget Advocacy Network, Sierra Leone (April 2014)

This report analyses Sierra Leone’s ‘tax expenditure’ – i.e., the amount of revenues lost by the government’s granting of tax incentives and exemptions. Using figures obtained from the National Revenue Authority, the report estimates that the government lost revenues worth $224 million in 2012, amounting to an enormous 8.3 per cent of GDP. In 2011, losses were even higher – 13.7 per cent of GDP. The massive rise in revenue losses since 2009 is the result of tax incentives granted to the mining sector. The report estimates that the government will lose revenues of $131 million in the three years 2014-16 alone from corporate income tax incentives granted to five mining companies. Tax expenditures could instead be spent on improving education and health services, investing in agriculture and in providing social protection to vulnerable groups. Yet in 2011 the government spent more on tax incentives than on its development priorities. In 2012, tax expenditure amounted to an astonishing 59 per cent of the entire government budget – over 8 times the health budget and 7 times the education budget.

Read full publication >

Categories: Companies, Mining, Tax
Malawi’s Mining Opportunity: Increasing Revenues, Improving Legislation

Malawi’s Mining Opportunity: Increasing Revenues, Improving Legislation

Report for Norwegian Church Aid-Malawi and Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace-Malawi (July 2013)

This report analyses Malawi’s tax revenues from mining, focusing on how legislation can be improved to ensure that Malawians benefit more from the country’s natural resources. The report finds that although mining makes up around 10 per cent of Malawi’s exports, it contributes less than 1 per cent of its total revenue. Tax incentives given to mining companies are costing Malawi at least 8 times more than the revenues received; a loss that could cover 60 per cent of the costs of the Ministry of Health.

The company managing the largest mining project in the country – Australian uranium miner, Paladin – has been given extensive tax incentives, meaning that it is paying very little in tax. Revenue losses to Malawi from the tax regime given to Paladin are calculated at $205–281 million over the 13 years of the project. It is encouraging that the government is committed to revising the mining legislation, but progress is slow and the currently proposed revision of the Mines and Minerals Act is little better than the existing Act.

Read full publication >

Categories: Companies, Mining, Tax
Web of Power: The UK Government and the Energy-Finance Complex Fuelling Climate Change

Web of Power: The UK Government and the Energy-Finance Complex Fuelling Climate Change

Report for World Development Movement (March 2013)

This report, written by WDM to which Curtis Research contributed research, shows the links between current and former British ministers and officials and the finance and energy companies driving climate change. The report highlights the extent to which British companies currently promoting dirty energy projects in developing countries are managed or advised by former British officials and that senior executives of many of these same companies are currently serving as members of government-linked advisory boards which shape the UK’s financial and trade policies. These companies are likely to be exerting influence over government policy on energy projects and on its wider financial and trade policies, which thus may have been captured by this nexus of personal interests.

Read full publication >

Categories: Climate, Companies, Foreign Policy, Mining, UK
Briefing on London Mining Agreement in Sierra Leone

Briefing on London Mining Agreement in Sierra Leone

Briefing for National Advocacy Coalition on the Extractives, Sierra Leone (April 2012)

This briefing analyses the fiscal terms of the revised mining agreement between the UK-based London Mining with the government of Sierra Leone. It finds that while the new agreement is an improvement over the current one it contains 11 provisions inconsistent with Sierra Leone’s legislation while some of its terms are actually worse than in the current agreement. The new agreement should not be ratified in its present form, since Sierra Leone will unnecessarily lose badly-needed revenues. Increasing revenues from mining must be a top priority for the government, along with ensuring transparency in such revenues as under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

Read full publication >

Categories: Companies, Mining, UK
The Role of Transparent and Fair Taxation in Converting Africa’s Mineral Wealth into Development

The Role of Transparent and Fair Taxation in Converting Africa’s Mineral Wealth into Development

Article for Proparco, Groupe Agence Francaise de Developpement (January 2011)

Version francaise: cliquez ici

The mining industry does not contribute enough to Africa ’s development – when it does not make local populations poorer and destroy the environment. Its fiscal regime needs to be overhauled, with a greater share of revenues transferred to governments. Fiscal transparency must also be made mandatory; the sums paid by mining companies, the revenues received by governments and the expenditure made must be published. Finally, international standards, backed up by local legal tools, could revolutionize the sector tax system.

Read full publication >

Categories: Mining, Tax
Sierra Leone at the Crossroads: Seizing the Chance to Benefit from Mining

Sierra Leone at the Crossroads: Seizing the Chance to Benefit from Mining

Report for National Advocacy Coalition on Extractives, Sierra Leone (March 2009)

This report shows how the people of Sierra Leone could benefit more from the country’s mineral resources, which account for 90 per cent of exports but only $9-10 million in government revenues. It shows how mining tax laws have given away too much to companies while government policies to regulate the mining sector are poor or non-existent. Includes case studies of the two largest foreign investors, Sierra Rutile and Koidu Holdings.

Read full publication >

Categories: Companies, Mining, Tax, UK
Mining and Tax in South Africa: Costs and Benefits

Mining and Tax in South Africa: Costs and Benefits

Report for African NGOs (February 2009)

This report shows that while mining contributes significantly to the South African economy, the generous tax treatment given to companies means that it does not benefit as much as it could. The costs of mining are borne by poor communities in rural areas. A new royalty system introduced by the government will see the government lose up to $499 million a year compared to previous proposals.

Read full publication >

Categories: Mining, Tax
A Golden Opportunity: How Tanzania is Failing to Benefit from Gold Mining

A Golden Opportunity: How Tanzania is Failing to Benefit from Gold Mining

Report for Tanzanian NGOs (October 2008)

This report is an analysis of gold mining and tax payments in Tanzania. Although Tanzania is one of Africa’s largest gold exporters, ordinary people benefit little, since the government has implemented tax laws that are overly favourable to mining companies and because of the policies of those companies themselves, notably AngloGold Ashanti and Barrick.

Read full publication >

Categories: Companies, Mining, Tax
Precious Metal: The Impact of Anglo Platinum in South Africa

Precious Metal: The Impact of Anglo Platinum in South Africa

Report for ActionAid (March 2008)

This report analyses the operations in South Africa of the world’s largest platinum producer, Anglo Platinum, a company majority-owned by the British mining giant, Anglo American. The findings suggest that company activities have deprived communities of agricultural land while community protests are often met by police brutality and company legal action.

Read full publication >

Categories: Companies, Mining, UK
1 2 3