Mining tax regimes and rent sharing: comparative analysis Africa - Latin America, the case of copper

Copper is an important mineral for several countries in Latin America and Africa. Chile and Peru in particular are the two largest producers in the world. In this context, it is interesting to compare mining tax regimes and rent sharing within the main producing countries of the two continents. This study focuses on a sample of 12 countries over the past two decades. It analyzes the evolution of mining tax legislation in order to assess the part of the rent that should theoretically go to the State thanks to a model of rent sharing. The results show that the trend followed by the taxation of copper mining differs between the two continents: the tax burden increases markedly in Africa, while it decreases slightly in Latin America. In African countries, mining royalty rates are on the rise (DRC, Mauritania, Tanzania, Zambia). Variable rates depending on the price of copper also appeared (Mauritania, Zambia). In Latin American countries, the two largest producers (Chile, Peru) introduced progressive royalty rates according to the company's margin, which greatly improved the progressivity of tax systems.