Govt urged track women in taxation initiatives

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Government has been asked to create a gender data dashboard to track women’s participation in tax initiatives, measure the impact of training and policies on women-owned businesses.

This will lead to the promotion of tailored support, like the SME helpdesks and mobile clinics, to women entrepreneurs.

The call was made by Rehema Kahunde, an analyst with the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC).

She made the call on Thursday, August 14, during a multi-stakeholder dialogue on Strengthening Domestic Revenue Mobilisation in Uganda under the Theme: "Strengthening Accountability for Improved DRM Towards a Just & Inclusive Society”.

The dialogue was organised by SEATINI Uganda with financial support from Oxfam under the Danida Strategic Partnership II.

According to Kahunde, URA’s administrative data is not systematically disaggregated by gender, limiting the ability to assess how tax policies, incentives, or compliance initiatives specifically affect women-owned enterprises.

She added that although URA has organised women-focused business clinics and outreach programmes to improve compliance and awareness, data showing the impact of these clinics is lacking and this continues to affect domestic revenue collection.

Her remarks were further re-echoed by David Walakira, a Public Financial Management Specialist who added that most local revenue functions are handled as secondary duties by finance staff, parish chiefs, or town agents, leading to divided attention.

He called for a standalone local revenue department with dedicated mobilisers.

"Participants also complained of companies that when given tax exemptions fail to meet agreed conditions, with 22 out of 36 assessed performing below the 50% staff threshold," added Hilda Tumuhe, Program Officer – Debt & Aid, SEATINI Uganda.

Tumuhe added that this has been further limited by transparency on how taxes are used, poor quality public services, and delayed revenue remittances to local governments.

Despite the Domestic Revenue Mobilisation strategy aiming for 16–18%, Uganda’s tax-to-GDP ratio has only grown by 0.1–0.3% annually in recent years, far below the 0.5% annual target, limiting the country’s ability to finance its own development, Tumuhe added.

Jane Nalunga, the Executive Director SEATINI Uganda, explained further that Uganda faces challenges such as declining aid, increased borrowing and debt servicing, climate crisis financing needs estimated at $ 28.1 billion, a low tax-to-GDP ratio of around 12% compared to the 16–18% target, and gaps in allocation and utilisation of mobilised resources.

“The dialogue seeks to analyse opportunities and challenges affecting effective and equitable revenue mobilisation and accountability at both national and subnational levels, and to identify strategies to strengthen mobilisation and accountability mechanisms for inclusive service delivery,” she said.