Tax Incentives and Sme's In Zambia -Study of the Copperbelt

SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) have been declared a critical path out of poverty through ownership and employment. Most of the large and fast growing economies of the world like South Korea, China, Thailand, India and United States of America are characterized by the growth of the SME sector. However, SMEs do face a lot of constraints in the business environment. Some of the constraints include financing, corruption, policy uncertainty and instability, taxes and regulations, governance, and skills to mention but a few. SMEs have a vital role to play in the economic development of many countries and Zambia is no exception. Hence it is important to examine constraints faced by SMEs. In Zambia one of the constraints SMEs are perceived to face are high taxes. For this reason the government offers tax incentives to SMEs to ease the tax pressure and ultimately facilitate growth of this industry to contribute to the growth of the economy.