Key policymakers, experts, and stakeholders gathered in Lusaka, Zambia at Global Conference on the Future of Resource Taxation. This was part of efforts to chart a path toward a better future where mining will contribute a great deal to improve revenue collection in the extractive sector of African countries while in the search for critical minerals for a renewable energy system.

According to IISD Earth Negotiation Bulletin report, two final substantive sessions tackled profit shifting in the energy sector, and future prospects for the mining sector. The first panel, comprising a range of experts from government, finance, and research, shared their experiences in the application of risk assessment and auditing tools to combat tax base erosion and profit shifting in the mining sector, which undercuts government revenues and threatens the energy transition. The key issues highlighted in the session are as follows:

1. Profit-shifting can also take place within a country, from one mining company to another with favorable tax incentives;
2. Proper tax administration is very resource-intensive, with countries generally having small tax teams;
3. Intensive tax administration in the mining sector can be at the expense of other high-risk sectors like telecommunications;
4. Modern tools can contribute significantly to addressing challenges, such as through automated volume monitoring in quarries; and
5. Revenue collection complexities and a gamut of taxes in all countries are difficult to address, but solutions are constantly being developed and should be shared among members.

During the closing session of the Global Conference on the Future of Resource Taxation, Taxation Director-General Dieudonné Bifumanu Nsompi, DRC’s Ministry of Economy and Finance concluded “We desperately need to continue this conversation and share our experiences!”