Felix Chipota Mutati’s budget presentation on Friday last week has   left Republican Progressive Party(RPP) in disbelief.

Mutati unveiled a  National Budget  worth over K70 billion.

But RPP vice president Leslie Chikuse is disappointed that Mutati did not tackle the Pay As You Earn in his budget presentation.

But Luanshya Mayor Nathan Chanda is happy with the 22% increment of Equalisation Funds to councils countrywide.

Chikuse said in an interview that  leaving out  PAYE was a very serious omission.

He said  PAYE   is a very serious component which cannot be left out in the budget presentation because people must be taxed to recover income for national development.

“We are shocked that the Finance Minister did not mention Pay As You Earn in his budget presentation.That was a very serious omission and shows inconsistence in as far  as economic recovery is concerned. people are supposed to be taxed,” he said.

Chikuse said the omission of the Pay As You Earn diluted the essence of the entire budget.

“Otherwise there was nothing new in what  Felix presented but the omission of the Pay as You Earn made budget  useless.” Chikuse said.

However, Mayor Chanda has hailed the 22 percent increment of the Equalisation Fund to councils country wide.

Finance Minister Felix Mutati in his 2018 budget presentation, announced K1.1 billion Local Government Equalisation Fund, representing an increase of 22 percent.

Commenting on the increase, The Luanshya Mayor said this is a good move to the governance of local authorities even though more needs to be done but looking at other competing needs 22% is better than zero and urged mps to increase it as they debate the 2018 national budget  in order to boost development in the districts.

“To us as Luanshya Municipal Council, this is unprecedented and it will go a long way. This is what it means to bring development closer to the people. We feel that the 2018 budget is a road map that will change the operations of local authorities,” Chanda said.

He added: “It is also important to note that the proposal by the inister of Finance to repeal the Rating Act of 1997 which will empower local authorities to mobilize more funds than waiting for the government.

Government has provided a road map for national development. Its commitment to decentralization will ensure that people have improved and services closer to them but also citizens participation in the  development and governance of this nation which is in line with the 7th Nation Development Plan.”